HIP Randomized Breast Cancer Screening Trial (1963–1982)
From 1963 to 1982, researchers in New York City, New York, carried
out a randomized trial of mammography screening. Mammography is the use
of X-ray technology to find breast cancer at early stages. The private
insurance company Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York, or HIP,
collaborated with researchers Sam Shapiro, Philip Strax, and Louis Venet
on the trial. The researchers’ goal was to determine whether mammography
screening reduced breast cancer mortality in women. The study included
sixty thousand women aged forty to sixty-four. Half of the women
received two annual breast examinations that involved mammography, a
breast exam, and an interview. The rest of the women were not invited
for annual examinations. After follow up, the researchers found that of
