Why use statistical modeling to study breast cancer?
There have been a number of clinical trials that have been done in the past, and based on those trials, it’s accepted that screening does save lives by reducing breast cancer mortality. There are also a number of questions that are left unanswered like what is the best screening schedule, and it’s unlikely that those types of questions will be addressed directly by clinical trials for a number of reasons. One is that screening is already widespread in the US population and has been for over 20 years. Also, there are guidelines that are out there that exist based on the evidence that we have today. And randomizing people into screening schedules that conflict with the guidelines might be problematic. So it’s a little unclear if women would be willing to participate in a trial to look at these specific questions. And on top of the ethical reasons, screening trials are very difficult because they start with women that are healthy and follow them all the way through for the outcome of brea
