New guidelines just released suggest a new age that women should receive a mammogram.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released new guidelines Tuesday that urge women to seek this screening process starting at the age of 40. These recommendations apply to women who are at the average risk of breast cancer.
This organization had originally recommended that women aged 50 and up begin taking mammograms while those ages 40 through 49 were advised to consider screening based on personal risk factors. Healthcare providers now say that updated research and evidence suggest that the new recommended age should be 40.
Dr. Carol Mangione, the co-author of these new guidelines, said that this new recommendation could be attributed to rising rates of breast cancer across the nation.
“New and more inclusive science about breast cancer in women younger than the age of 50 has allowed us to expand our prior recommendation,” said Mangione, according to NPR. “There are a lot more women getting breast cancer, and that influences our recommendation,” she continued.
The CDC reports that breast cancer is the second leading cause of death for women in the United States, with about 264,000 cases of breast cancer being diagnosed in women annually. CDC officials report that of this number, approximately 42,000 will die from the condition.
The American Cancer Society has already suggested that women between the ages of 40 and 44 should consider this screening process and that those between the ages of 45 and 54 get screenings every year.
Mangione said that professionals not only concur that receiving screenings every other year from the age of 40 would be beneficial, but that this process could save as many as 8,000 lives annually.
“If all women followed our new recommendation, we could reduce mortality from breast cancer in the U.S. by about 20%,” said Mangione, according to NPR. “That’s a big reduction in mortality from breast cancer,” she continued.
New imaging processes recently created have also suggested the promise of more efficacy in screening for breast cancer, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
This recommendation will be open for public comment until June 5.