Loss of QALY in mammography screening reported by Zahl et al .

Zahl et al.1 assumed the effect of modern screening programs to be (i) a 10% reduction in breast cancer mortality; (ii) 50–75% overdiagnosis; and that (iii) 20–80% of reduction in breast cancer mortality translate into reduction in all-cause mortality. Using 50% for the last variable, a QALY loss of 437–875 per 100,000 was expected in women screened for 20 years starting at age 50. Denmark is probably the country with the best data for...