The British Secretary of State for Health, Jérémy Hunt, has just recognized that 450,000 women under the age of 70 have passed through the cracks of organized screening for breast cancer due to a computer bug dating back to 2009. According to the Secretary of State, this error could have “cut short the lives of 135 to 270 women” that would not have been detected in time.
Women are called to breast cancer screening in the UK every three years between the ages of 50 and 70. In 2009, a trial called AgeX was set up to extend this screening to women aged 47 to 49 and those aged 71 to 73. In the latter group, all women participating in the trial were required to have had a final routine checkup just before their 70th birthday. It is this screening that the computer bug seems to have canceled. A bug that has just been spotted following data analyzes conducted by the health organization Public Health England (PHE).
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