Scheduling mammography screening for the early detection of breast cancer in Korean women (original) (raw)

2007, Journal of medical screening

To propose an efficient screening schedule for breast cancer among Korean women using the stochastic model in which the age-specific incidence rate was considered. Female breast cancer data in the Korea Central Cancer Registry 2002. The stochastic model was based on the threshold method, in which the schedule is determined by a pre-specified threshold value. The threshold value was defined as the probability of being in a preclinical state of breast cancer at age 40 years. The sensitivity of the mammography was specified as 0.7. Two models for mean sojourn time (MST) in the preclinical state were considered; MSTs for Model I were 2 (ages < 50 years), 3 (ages 50-59 years), and 4 years (ages > or = 60 years), and MSTs for Model II were 3, 4, and 5 years for the corresponding age groups. The threshold method for Model I generated 19 examinations within the screening ages of 40-69 years. Each screening time was determined at ages 40.0, 41.6, 43.2, 44.8, 46.0, 47.2, 48.4, 49.6, 50....