What happened after publication

After publication of this paper by Ma and colleagues ( BMJ 2025;390:e085029, doi: 10.1136/bmj-2025-085029 , published 24 September 2025) and its linked editorial ( BMJ 2025;390:r1893, doi: 10.1136/bmj.r1893 ), 1 2 BMJ was alerted to concerns that messaging in key areas may not be sufficiently supported by the data presented in the work.

Reason for expressing concern

The research paper 1 shows an association between non-attendance at first breast screening and death from breast cancer. There is concern that a lack of data about all cause mortality, and/or lack of emphasis on those data, is a critical limitation. This may impact the implications of the work and BMJ is conducting additional statistical review.

The main finding of the paper is

See Full Page