In Reply: Most of the points made in Dr Kopans'
letter were also made in our article. We pointed out that the imbalance of
the 19 women in the mammography group vs 5 in the control group suggested
a problem with randomization.
We pointed out that the initial trials were never intended to permit
subset analysis of women aged 40 to 49 years, and thus the 12 policy groups
appropriately initially recommended screening in the age groups covered by
the clinical trials.