Women over 70 risk breast cancer overdiagnosis with screening, US study finds

FILE PHOTO: A woman undergoes a free mammogram inside Peru's first mobile unit for breast cancer detection, in Lima March 8, 2012. REUTERS/Enrique Castro-Mendivil/File Photo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new study is raising fresh questions about the value of breast cancer screening in older women, finding that those 70 and older who underwent mammograms were more apt to be diagnosed with tumors posing no threat to their health than those who did not screen.

The study by researchers at Yale Medical School, published on Monday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, tracked 54,635 U.S. women 70 and older who received a mammogram - an X-ray of the breast - in 2002. Women who opted for continued screening were compared to those who chose not to be screened.