Earlier Detection Helps Drive Down Breast Cancer Deaths

Mammography screening is helping detect breast cancer earlier, alongside declining mortality rates and fewer advanced tumours across much of Europe.

“Our results show that with the introduction of screening, significantly more breast cancers are detected at an early stage, when the chances of successful treatment are better,” said Hermann Brenner, study leader at the German Cancer Research Centre.

An analysis of more than 3.4 million women with invasive breast cancer across 21 European countries between 1978 and 2019 found a marked rise in early-stage diagnoses and a decline in advanced, particularly stage IV, cancers in many countries. The shift was especially pronounced among women aged 50 to 69, the group most commonly invited for screening. Breast cancer mortality has fallen significantly in most countries since the late 1990s, supported by both earlier detection and advances in medicines, surgery and follow-up care. Researchers also identified increased overdiagnosis of some early cancers, highlighting the potential for more personalised, risk-based screening to retain the benefits of early detection while reducing unnecessary treatment.