Seven years into the Age Extension trial of mammography screening, in September 2016, the target number of trial participants was quietly doubled, to "at least six million". The upper limit to the age range was extended from 73 to 79, inflicting extra mammograms on women already at increased risk from overdiagnosis and overtreatment. It has been re-named and re-branded; there have been changes to the protocol, the research hypothesis, and to the primary and secondary outcomes.
HealthWatch has been highlighting concerns over this mammoth trial almost since its inception, and our recent BMJ Analysis* describes the ethical flaws. In this HealthWatch Update we describe these and the procedural issues around the trial in more detail. We ask, will this research, with its constantly-shifting goalposts, ever be fit for publication in a serious peer-reviewed journal?