Does screening for disease save lives in asymptomatic adults? Not really…

Should we be looking for disease in people who don’t have any symptoms?
A large new study indicates the answer is NO. Image by Yasunari(康就) Nakamura(中村).

Screening for disease is a key component of modern healthcare. Yet, new surprising new research shows that few currently available screening tests for major diseases where death is a common outcome have documented reductions in disease-specific mortality. Evidence was evaluated on 16 screening tests for 9 major diseases where mortality is a common outcome. The researchers found 45 randomized controlled trials and 98 meta-analyses that evaluated disease-specific or all-cause mortality. Reductions in disease-specific mortality were uncommon and reductions in all-cause mortality were very uncommon.

Sources and more information

• Does screening asymptomatic adults for disease save lives?,
  Oxford University Press (OUP), 13 January 2015.
• Does screening for disease save lives in asymptomatic adults? Systematic review of meta-analyses and randomized trials, Int. J. Epidemiol. (2015),
  doi: 10.1093/ije/dyu140, January 15, 2015.
• Cancer $creening Doesn’t Save Lives, Meta-Study Reveals,
  greenmedinfo, January 15th 2015.