"Starting at age 40": Increase in breast cancer diagnoses leads to new screening guidelines
SACRAMENTO — An increase in breast cancer diagnoses has led to new guidelines for when women should get their first screenings.
The new guidelines have been moved by a whole decade. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force now says 40 is when women should start getting screenings every other year. Previously, the Task Force recommended that women in their 40s make an individual decision with their clinician on whether and when they should start screening based on their individual needs and preferences. According to Dr. Eizabeth Morris, professor and chair of radiology at UC Davis Health, the "old" guidelines were mostly based on European women.
"It's well known that African American women develop breast cancer a lot earlier and they have a higher peak of breast cancer in the forties," she said. "So these guidelines are more inclusive and address that deficit that was before."
But Dr. Morris doesn't think the new guidelines go far enough.
"Most people who are in the breast cancer screening world recommend annual screenings, so that is every year starting at age forty," she said.
Dr. Morris says if you're considered high-risk, that is a woman who has a family history of breast cancer or has a genetic abnormality, screening should happen much earlier.
"If you're in your late twenties or early thirties right now, and you see this, go to your doctor and ask, 'Am I in the high-risk category?" Dr. Morris said. "Understanding your risk status before the age of forty — hopefully, by the age of thirty — can catch those women who are at high risk."
In the United States, breast cancer accounts for more than 43,000 deaths every year and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women, which makes early detection so important.
"In general, one in eight women during their lifetime will develop breast cancer and they have no history of family cancer or they have no genetic abnormality," Dr. Morris said.
Health officials say it's also important to know your body, do regular self-checks, and if you notice a lump or abnormality, talk to your doctor immediately.