People may want to begin getting breast cancer screenings 10 years earlier than current recommendations call for, according to pending recommendations from the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force.
“When final, this recommendation will update the 2016 recommendation on breast cancer screening,” said the independent organization.
“In 2016, the USPSTF recommended biennial screening mammography for women ages 50 to 74 years and individualizing the decision to undergo screening for women [defined as cis women, transgender men and non-binary women] ages 40 to 49 years, based on factors such as individual risk and personal preferences and values,” it said.
In its current draft recommendation, the USPSTF recommends biennial screening mammography for women ages 40 to 74 years. As of Wednesday, the topic was being updated, per the organization. It also stressed that its recommendations are independent of the U.S. government.
“They should not be construed as an official position of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,” said the USPSTF.
Last year, the American Cancer Society also released breast cancer screening guidelines for average risk patients. It said people between 40 and 44 have the option to start screening with a mammogram every year, and that “women 45 to 54 should get mammograms every year,” while those age 55 and older could get them every other year or annually.
“Screening should continue as long as a woman is in good health and is expected to live at least 10 more years,” said the American Cancer Society.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 264,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in women and about 2,400 in men each year in the U.S. About 42,000 women and 500 men in in the country die from the disease annually.
“Black women have a higher rate of death from breast cancer than white women,” said the centers.
Research published last month in the JAMA journal found that, “in general, Black females had an increased risk of dying due to early-onset [breast cancer] and so could be screened up to 8 years earlier than the recommended starting age of 50 years, whereas Asian and Pacific Islander females could be screened at an older age (ie, 61 years) than the recommended staring age of screening.”
“The change in guidelines by the USPSTF to endorse screening mammograms for average risk women 40 and over is warranted, incorporates more modern and 'real world' data into the science informing the guidelines and will hopefully prompt payers to provide better coverage for women seeking breast cancer screening,” Dr. Laura Dominici, a breast cancer surgeon at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center, said in an emailed statement sent to CBS News. She was not involved in the USPSTF draft recommendation, said the outlet.
Dominici also said that more attention should be paid to racial inequities in the future when it comes to breast cancer screening.
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