Health professionals' agreement on density judgements and successful abnormality identification within the UK Breast Screening Programme

Abstract

Higher breast density is associated with a greater chance of developing breast cancer. Additionally, it is well known that higher mammographic breast density is associated with increased difficulty in accurately identifying breast cancer. However, comparatively little is known of the reliability of breast density judgements. All UK breast screeners (primarily radiologists and technologists) annually participate in the PERFORMS self-assessment scheme where they make several judgements about series of challenging recent screening cases of known outcomes. As part of this process, for each case, they provide a radiological assessment of the likelihood of cancer on a confidence scale, alongside an assessment of case density using a three point scale. Analysis of the data from two years of the scheme found that the degree of agreement on case density was significantly greater than no agreement (p < .001). However, only a moderate degree of inter-rater reliability was exhibited (kappa = .44) with significant differences between the occupational groups. The reasons for differences between the occupational groups and the relationship between agreement on density rating and case reading ability are explored.