False-Positive Mammograms Take a Toll (Los Angeles Times)
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":null,"attributes":{"class":"media-image alignright size-full wp-image-1604","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"100","height":"100","title":"","alt":"Los Angeles Times"}}]]
H. Gilbert Welch, a professor of medicine at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, says a new study of women who had false-positive results from mammograms is one of the first to track the effects of receiving such news, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The study found that after receiving a false report of breast abnormalities, and then getting the corrected results, many women experienced ongoing anxiety, according to the newspaper.
"This isn't a short-term anxiety hit," Welch tells the newspaper. "Their state of mind is somewhere in between a patient with breast cancer and a normal one."
Read the full story, published 3/19/13 by the Los Angeles Times.
The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice