US panel advises breast cancer screenings should begin at age 40
Lowering the age for biannual screenings could save more lives, says the US Health Task Force.
Women should start getting mammograms for breast cancer at age 40, an influential health panel in the United States has advised, in a move the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) says could help save thousands of lives.
The panel’s update on Tuesday reverses a controversial 2009 recommendation when it said biennial screening should start a decade later — at age 50 — unless women and their doctors decided earlier checkups were appropriate.
The task force, a group of independent experts appointed by the US Department of Health and Human Services, said that while it previously recommended that women in their 40s make individual choices about when to begin screening, the new guidelines could lead 19 percent more lives lost. rescued.
“This new recommendation will help save lives and prevent more women from dying from breast cancer,” said Dr. Carol Mangione, the former president of the USPSTF, in a statement (pdf).
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer and the second most common cause of cancer death for women in the United States, killing approximately 42,000 women and 500 men, according to official data. Black women are 40 percent more likely to die than white women.
The guidance is still considered a draft, with the Task Force posting the evidence it considered on its website and allowing public comment and review until early June. U.S. health insurance is required to cover all services recommended by the USPSTF, regardless of cost.
“Getting black women to start screening at age 40 is an important first step, but it’s not enough to improve the health inequalities we face in relation to breast cancer,” said the task force’s vice chair, Wanda. Nicholson.
“In our draft recommendation, we underline the importance of equitable follow-up after screening and timely and effective treatment of breast cancer and urgently call for more research into how to improve the health of black women.”
The draft recommendation applies to women at “average risk” of breast cancer, which includes those with a family history of breast cancer or other risk factors such as dense breasts, which about half of all women have.
It does not apply to people with a history of breast cancer, or who have certain genetic markers that put them at high risk, who have had high-dose radiotherapy from a young age, or who have had high-risk biopsies taken.
The American Cancer Society (ACS) applauded the updated USPSTF recommendation to begin screening at age 40.
However, the group’s chief scientific officer, Dr. William Dahut, said in a statement that the ACS recommends annual mammograms because “current evidence indicates that biennial screening in [women under age 55] is associated with a diagnosis of more advanced disease”.
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists spokesman Dr. Christopher M. Zahn said in a statement that the group “has long maintained that regular mammography screening starting at age 40 reduces breast cancer mortality in people without additional risk factors.”
Recognizing that black women are more likely to die from breast cancer than white women, [the earlier start to screening] could help make a meaningful difference by ensuring more black women are diagnosed earlier,” Zahn added.