The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently posted a draft recommending that women get screenings for breast cancer at the age of 40.
The new recommended age is 10 years earlier than the previous recommendation by the task force. In 2016, the health force recommended that people get regularly screened for cancer with biennial mammograms starting from the age of 50.
With the new age recommendation, the task force predicts that 19% of potential people diagnosed with breast cancer will survive their diagnosis. Of the people who are meant to follow the new recommendation, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says that women with dense breasts and those with a history of cancer in the family should start screening from the age of 40.
For those that have a history of breast cancer specifically or mutations such as the BRCA gene, the update to the recommendation is not applicable as they are already encouraged to get screenings starting from the age of 40 or earlier.
“New and more inclusive science about breast cancer in people younger than 50 has enabled us to expand our prior recommendation and encourage all women to get screened every other year starting at age 40,” said the Task Force immediate past chair Carol Mangione, M.D., M.S.P.H. per a statement in the draft. “This new recommendation will help save lives and prevent more women from dying due to breast cancer.”
While breast cancer rates are alarmingly high across different races and ethnicities, Black women are among those that have the highest rate of passing away from cancer. According to a report released by the American Cancer Society in late 2022, while Black women have a four percent lower incidence rate, they have an increased 40% death rate from breast cancer when compared to white women in the U.S.
Although, in general, it is lower, researchers from Breast Cancer Prevention Partners also found that Black women have a higher incidence rate among people diagnosed with breast cancer below the age of 40.
“Ensuring Black women start screening at age 40 is an important first step, yet it is not enough to improve the health inequities we face related to breast cancer,” says Task Force vice chair Wanda Nicholson, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A. “In our draft recommendation, we underscore the importance of equitable followup after screening and timely and effective treatment of breast cancer and are urgently calling for more research on how to improve the health of Black women.”
