[Igor Antunov]

One of the largest and most meticulous studies of mammography ever done, involving 90,000 women and lasting a quarter-century, has added powerful new doubts about the value of the screening test for women of any age.

It found that the death rates from breast cancer and from all causes were the same in women who got mammograms and those who did not. And the screening had harms: One in five cancers found with mammography and treated was not a threat to the woman’s health and did not need treatment such as chemotherapy, surgery or radiation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/healt ... ml?hp&_r=1

If this turns out to be the case, what a massive waste of resources and time over the years. 1/3rd of Australia's state medical funding goes towards breast screening.

[Russkie]

The medical industry is a business, you now just figured out that?

I'd love to know how much % of GDP in the US is wasted on this, 10%?

[Igor Antunov]

I guess radiologists gotta eat.

[ThereBeDragons]

The medical industry is a business, you now just figured out that?

I'd love to know how much % of GDP in the US is wasted on this, 10%?

1/20th of one percent.

Which is still a very, very large amount of money.

[Rancid]

What about checking men's ball sacks? Is that a waste?

[Igor Antunov]

They don't do that. We don't have testicular cancer buses driving around offering up free fondles/x-rays.

[Rancid]

That's true.

I get my balls felt up as a side thing when I go to the doctor. It's not something men are told to actively get done every year.

[Igor Antunov]

I had mine checked once, I find it funny that here they send in the female doctor to fondle/do ultra-sound on balls. I guess few heterosexual men would feel comfortable having another man's hand on his balls. Likewise gynecologists-they're almost exclusively men ready to stick their fingers in pussy. I guess this society does a few things right.

[Drlee]

That's true.

I get my balls felt up as a side thing when I go to the doctor. It's not something men are told to actively get done every year.

That is because testicular cancer only affects just over 8000 men per year, mostly young. Only about 380 of them die from it. This may be due to the fact that practically no young men ignore their balls.

The Army for a time put self-examination posters above urinals. I guess this was to give us something to do with otherwise unproductive time. Some men thought they were supposed to do the exam while they were peeing. This was before don't-ask-don't-tell. There was some unfortunate confusion.

At the time the US Army had about 600,000 men. Assuming all of them read, understood and (hopefully when they got home and not immediately in the latrine or at their desks) did the comprehensive examination monthly as recommended the potential was that two or three soldiers would find their testicular cancer and be saved. At least that is what the instructor who explained the posters in a class said, having done the math. This, of course was not true. If he had understood the numbers (and he was no epidemiologist) he would have understood that these soldiers would likely have not died anyway because military folks have paid health care and routine physical exams during which these cancers would likely have been found early enough to have been easily treated anyway. Now ask yourself how many of those young soldiers who read the poster went home and did the exam every month for the rest of their service careers and you can see......as they say.....sometimes a great notion.......

[Rancid]

I find it funny that here they send in the female doctor to fondle/do ultra-sound on balls.

Interesting. Here, whatever doctor you visit is the one that does it. In fact, I'm going to have my balls checked (among other things) tomorrow. It's a woman though, I'm going to this doctor because she helped me with an issue I had a few years ago. I was worried that I might be seen a s creepy guy for going to a female doctor (hence the ask pofo post I made recently).

[Kaiserschmarrn]

Breast cancer screening programs are a monumental waste of money. In many cases, even before these programs were introduced it was already known that the evidence was extremely weak, if not non-existent, but health ministries pushed ahead with it regardless of the actual evidence.

People - physicians, politicians, advocacy groups, and layman alike - are in favour of these policies because the vast majority is completely statistically illiterate.

Furthermore, breast cancer is one of the most over-funded illnesses, not only when it comes to early detection/screening measures, but also in public funding for research.