Skipping just one recent scheduled screening mammogram prior to breast cancer diagnosis significantly increases the risk of dying from the disease, a study suggests.

Conversely, women who attended their two most recent consecutive screening appointments before diagnosis halved their breast cancer mortality risk, the UK and Swedish researchers say.

Lead author Professor Stephen Duffy, a professor of cancer screening at Queen Mary University of London, said the findings underscore the importance of regular participation in scheduled breast cancer screens.

“While we suspected that regular participation would confer a reduction greater than that with irregular participation, I think it is fair to say that we were slightly surprised by the size of the effect,” he said.