Top U.S health officials are now urging women to start screening for breast cancer sooner, recommending that women start receiving mammograms at age 40 rather than age 50.
Rolled out as a draft recommendation on Tuesday from the US Preventive Services Task Force, this move comes as women in their 40s make an individual decision with their clinician on whether they should start screening based on their individual needs and preferences.
The Preventive Services Task Force’s draft recommendation now says women should start screening for breast cancer every other year, starting at age 40.
“We now find there is an increased development in breast cancer in women in their 40’s,” said Dr. John Wong, a general internist at Tufts Medical Center and a member of the Preventive Services Task Force.
“We find there could be as much as a 20 percent reduction in dying from breast cancer,” Wong said while discussing the draft recommendation.
Speaking this week, medical professionals said they think this change will be vital for Black women who are at a higher risk of dying due to breast cancer.
“Black women, they actually tend to develop cancer earlier and have more aggressive cancer, so the hope is changing these recommendations is the first step to improving outcomes for breast cancer particularly in areas where there are inequities,” said Dr. Laura Dominici, a cancer surgeon at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
7NEWS spoke with Cheryl Moneghan, who said a routine mammogram detected she had breast cancer when she was 48-years-old. Moneghan, continued, saying the mammogram caught her cancer early and made surviving it possible.
“I did not have, really, any symptoms of any pain, and there was no lump that I could detect, so, I do feel like getting a mammogram in my 40’s saved my life,” she said.
“I promise, it’s a lot easier than letting it go and finding out later that maybe you did have something wrong that could have been treated in an early stage,” Moneghan said of the process of getting a mammogram.
The Preventive Services Task Force consists of independent medical experts who make recommendations aimed at helping guide decisions for doctors. Recommendations can also impact insurance plans.
This week’s draft recommendation can be seen on the Preventive Services Task Force’s website and will remain available for public comment through June 5.
(Copyright (c) 2024 CNN. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)