Breast cancer: US recommends women start screening at 40

American women should begin breast cancer screening at age 40 with mammography every two years, the US Preventive Services Task Force has said in a draft recommendation. Previously women were advised to start at age 50 and those in their 40s were told to make an individual decision.1

The task force said it had made the recommendation for earlier screening in the hope of saving lives, especially of black women. “Black women are 40% more likely to die of breast cancer than white women and too often get deadly cancers at younger ages,” the task force said.

John Wong, a professor of medicine at Tufts University …