No, I'm not a medical doctor, nor do I play one on TV. But even I can see the reported numbers in this Washington Post article make absolutely no sense.
1. According to the article, for every 1000 women screened there will be roughly 500 false positives. What? There's a 50 percent false positive rate?
2. According to the article, 33 unnecessary biopsies result from roughly 500 false positives. What? Out of all women told they may have a serious illness only seven in every hundred follow up with additional investigation? What?
I could go on, but you see my point. There are major numeric sins of numeric omission evidenced in this article.
UPDATE: Am I certifiably paranoid to thing the above-mentioned Washington Post article bears some relationship to the events reported in this article? |