The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) on May 6 released a final research plan for its breast cancer screening recommendation update process.
The plan is the task force's response to comments on a draft it posted for public comment between January and February of this year. It addresses the following questions:
- What is the comparative effectiveness of different mammography breast cancer screening strategies on breast cancer morbidity and breast cancer-specific or all-cause mortality?
- What is the comparative effectiveness of different mammography breast cancer screening strategies on the incidence of and progression to advanced disease?
- What are the comparative harms of different mammography-based breast cancer screening strategies?
The document also explores the effect that racism, social inequities, and unequal access to healthcare may have on breast cancer incidence and outcomes; how well current risk assessment tools perform; and how personal preferences of specific breast cancer screening populations shape women's adherence to screening protocols.
The research plan is part of the USPSTF's process toward an updated breast cancer screening recommendation, it said. The task force's most current recommendation was released in 2016.
