EDITOR'S NOTE: Re: Benefits and Risks of Screening Mammography for Women in Their Forties: a Statistical Appraisal
Ms. Napoli has correctly quoted Journal policy that all authorsare
specifically asked to disclose any financial arrangementsthat may
raise the question of bias in the work presented, includingdirect and
indirect arrangements that benefit their institutionsor departments.
Our purpose in soliciting such information isto allow readers to judge
the opinions of authors and reportedresults of studies in the context
of any potential conflictsof interest. Readers can then make their own
judgement aboutthe relevance of the authors' disclosures. Similar to
mostifnot allbiomedical journals, we rely on authors to reveal
potentialconflicts of interest fully. As is the case with other
journals,we lack the resourcesboth monetary and humanto
investigatethe completeness and accuracy of the information provided.