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A study published in the leading journal Value in Health, suggested that breast cancer screening program should give higher importance to younger women.

The study, 'Incorporating equity-efficiency interactions in cost-effectiveness analysis – three approaches applied to breast cancer control' was carried out by a team of health economics experts at the University of East Anglia, the Erasmus Medical Centre (Netherlands), Radboud University (Netherlands) and Johns Hopkins University (US). 

The researchers concluded that extending the hotly-debated breast cancer screening  programme to younger women would have real benefits in terms of both economic efficiency and equity. The approach could also be used for other fatal diseases with similar age distributions.

"Screening only older women increases unfair disparities in terms of life expectancy, quality of life and incidence of disease," said principal investigator Prof Louis Niessen, a public health economist at UEA's School of Medicine.

"Our findings show that extending screening to younger women will lead to a better mix of health programmes and a more balanced approach to the fight against breast cancer."

Source : Value in Health

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