Health. Breast cancer: screening rates are down compared to last year.

70%. This is the participation rate recommended by European authorities in the National Breast Cancer Screening Program to effectively reduce mortality linked to this disease.

But the latest figures published by Public Health France are far from the mark... and are even declining. In 2024, the participation rate is estimated at 44%, compared to 46.3% for the period 2023-2024 and 46.7% for 2022-2023.

Marked regional disparities

Analysis of the 2024 data reveals significant territorial disparities. Compared to 2022, some regions recorded:

• a significant decline (3 to 5 points) in Île-de-France, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Centre-Val de Loire and Réunion;
• a moderate drop (1 to 2 points) in Burgundy-Franche-Comté, Normandy and Pays de la Loire;
• stability in Occitanie, Hauts-de-France, Grand Est, Brittany, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Martinique;
• a significant increase (4 to 5 points) in New Aquitaine and Corsica.

Blame it on Covid?

So how can this continued decline be explained? Public Health France offers a surprising explanation: "Since 2020 and the Covid-19 epidemic, disruptions have been observed in the sending of invitations and in participation. From January 1, 2024, invitations will be sent by the Health Insurance. For this year, data relating to the number of women invited is not available to date, as the Health Insurance is unable to provide it at this time."

It should also be noted that approximately 10% of women in the target population use non-program screening. This practice, although contributing to the early detection of breast cancer, is therefore not part of the PNDOCS performance monitoring framework.

Let us recall that with approximately 61,000 new cases and 12,000 deaths estimated in 2023, breast cancer remains the leading cause of cancer and cancer-related deaths among women in France. In response to this observation, since 2004, health authorities have offered all women aged 50 to 74 “without high risk” free screening every two years, including a clinical examination, a bilateral mammogram, and a second reading of normal images by an expert.