New Guidelines Say Mammograms Should Start at 40

With breast cancer rates rising among younger women, an influential task force has shifted the age when women should start getting their first mammograms back by a full decade. The US Preventive Services Task Force, finalizing draft guidance from last year, said regular screening for breast cancer should begin at 40, not 50, USA Today reports. Previous guidance said women should consider mammograms after age 40 based on personal risk. The task force, which based its recommendation on a review of evidence by an independent panel of experts, now urges women over 40 to get screened every second year.

"New and more inclusive science about breast cancer in women younger than the age of 50 has allowed us to expand our prior recommendation," Dr. Carol Mangione, co-author of the new recommendation, tells NPR. "There are a lot more women getting breast cancer, and that influences our recommendation," she says. Mangione says if all women follow the recommendation, it will save around 8,000 lives a year. The incidence of breast cancer among women in their 40s has risen 2% every year since 2015, the AP reports. Dr. John Wong, the panel's vice chair, says studies show earlier screening will help all women and will have "even more benefit" for Black women, who are 40% more likely than white women to die from breast cancer. (More mammogram stories.)