False Positive Breast Cancer Screening Linked with Greater Risk of Later Diagnosis

Even after adjusting for breast density, studies reveal a significantly greater risk for a cancer diagnosis within 2 decades. A UC Davis expert offers details.


There are data that show women who receive a false positive breast cancer screening result are at up to a 60% greater risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer over the next 20 years. UC Davis biostatistician Diana Miglioretti, PhD, and her colleagues have are among researchers who have made these findings. In a recent interview with Patient Care,® Miglioretti discussed the possible underlying factors.


Diana Miglioretti, PhD, is professor and division chief of biostatistics in the University of California Davis School of Medicine's department of public health sciences and an affiliate investigator at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute. Miglioretti co-leads the US Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium, a network of breast imaging registries with information collected on more than 13 million breast imaging examinations since 1994.