Free mammograms should start at 40 not 50
Sophie Scott from the ABC has reported on a study which found annual mammograms for women aged 40 and over resulted in a significant reduction in breast cancer related deaths.
A new study reported online in the journal Cancer said annual mammography screening of women in their 40s reduces the breast cancer death rate in these women by almost a third.
Around the world, most women begin mammogram screening at the age of 50. In Australia, women are offered free mammograms from 50 to 69 years.
But the authors of this new study say the use of the age of 50 as a threshold for breast cancer screening is scientifically unfounded.
“Women should begin getting annual mammograms at age 40,” the authors say.
The trial followed more than 600,000 Swedish women from 1986 until 2005.
The number of breast cancer deaths among the women in the study who did not receive mammograms was 50% higher than those who underwent screening. This translated into an increased relative risk of 26% to 29% for woman who were not screened.
“This study, which looked at the performance of screening mammography as it is actually used, rather than relying on mathematical modelling, shows without a doubt that mammography decreases deaths from breast cancer in women aged 40 to 49 by nearly one third,” says Dr Carol Lee, chair of the American College of Radiology Breast Imaging Commission.
