The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (Task Force) posted a draft recommendation statement on screening for breast cancer. It now recommends that all women get screened for breast cancer every other year starting at age 40. This is a B grade. More research is needed on whether or not women with dense breasts should have additional screening with breast ultrasound or MRI, as well as on the benefits and harms of screening in women older than 75. These are I statements. The use of the term women in this draft recommendation includes cisgender women and other people assigned female at birth.
While the Task Force has consistently recognized the lifesaving value of mammography, it has previously recommended that women in their 40s make an individual decision about when to start screening based on their health history and preferences. In this new recommendation, the Task Force now recommends that all women get screened starting at age 40. This change could result in 19 percent more lives being saved.
"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," noted Carol Mangione, MD, MSPH, Task Force immediate past chair and Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at the University of California, Los Angeles. "This new recommendation will help save lives and prevent more women from dying due to breast cancer."
Black women are 40 percent more likely to die of breast cancer than White women and too often get deadly cancers at younger ages. The Task Force recognizes this inequity and is calling for more research to understand the underlying causes and what can be done to eliminate this health disparity.
"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," stated Wanda Nicholson, MD, MPH, MBA, Task Force Vice Chair and Senior Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Professor of Prevention and Community Health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. "In our draft recommendation, we underscore the importance of equitable follow-up 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."
There are many key areas where more research is essential. We need to know how best to address the health disparities faced by Black, Hispanic, Latina, Asian, Native American, and Alaska Native women, particularly how to ensure equitable follow-up after screening. Timely and effective treatment for breast cancer has the potential to save more lives for people experiencing disparities related to racism, lack of access to care in rural communities, low income, and other factors.
We also need more research on the benefits and harms of screening and treatment in women ages 75 and older. The balance of benefits and harms may shift as women age, but there is very limited research on this age population. Additionally, nearly half of all women have dense breasts, which increases their risk for breast cancer and means that mammograms may not work as well for them. We need more studies that show how additional screening with breast ultrasound or MRI might help women with dense breasts.
"We know that women with dense breasts are at higher risk of breast cancer and, unfortunately, mammograms do not work as well for them," noted John Wong, MD, Task Force member and Vice Chair for Academic Affairs at Tufts Medical Center. "What we don't know yet, and what we are urgently calling for more research on, is whether and how additional screening for women with dense breasts might be helpful, including through ultrasound, breast MRIs, or something else."
This draft recommendation applies to women at average risk of breast cancer. This includes people with a family history of breast cancer and people who have other risk factors, such as having dense breasts. It does not apply to people who have a personal history of breast cancer, who are at very high risk of breast cancer due to certain genetic markers or a history of high-dose radiation therapy to their chest at a young age, or who have had a high-risk lesion on previous biopsies.