Women advised to start mammograms at 40 to detect breast cancer

If you are a woman over 40, you should start getting regular mammograms to detect breast cancer, say health experts in new guidelines.

“Among all US women, breast cancer is the second most common cancer and the second most common cause of cancer death. In 2023, an estimated 43,170 women died of breast cancer,” the US Preventive Services Task Force said.

The agency noted that the incidence of breast cancer has increased by 2% annually from 2015 to 2019. It also said women have faced a steady rise in the disease since 2000.

Previously, women aged 40-49 were advised to start screening at the age of 50 based on their family history, according to guidelines issued in 2016.

The USPSTF warned that Black women are nearly 40% more likely to die of breast cancer. However, the agency said that white women have the highest rates of breast cancer.

"If all women followed our new recommendation, we could reduce mortality from breast cancer in the US by about 20%," Dr Carol Mangione, an internal medicine specialist at UCLA who co-authored the new recommendation, told NPR.

"That's a big reduction in mortality from breast cancer."

The Center for Disease Control said that women can find breast cancer early with regular mammograms sometimes up to three years before it can be felt. That is why women are advised to regularly check their breasts for lumps.

If a woman detects a cancerous lump, she has up to a 99% five-year survival rate, the American Cancer Society said.