Long-term effects of the interruption of the Dutch breast cancer screening program due to COVID-19: A modelling study.

ABSTRACT: Due to COVID-19, the Dutch breast cancer screening program was interrupted for three months with uncertain long-term effects. The aim of this study was to estimate the long-term impact of this interruption on delay in detection, tumour size of screen-detected breast cancers, and interval cancer rate. After validation, the micro-simulation model SiMRiSc was used to calculate the effects of interruption of the breast cancer screening program for three months and for hypothetical interruptions of six and twelve months. A scenario without interruption was used as reference. Outcomes considered were tumour size of screen-detected breast cancers and interval cancer rate. Women of 55-59 and 60-64 years old at time of interruption were considered. Uncertainties were estimated using a sensitivity a

SUBMITTER: Poelhekken K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9722618 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature