Mammogram Timing: The Task Force's Starting Point

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that all women get screened for breast cancer every other year, starting at age 40 and continuing through age 74. The Task Force says the goal is to reduce the risk of dying from the disease, and it gives the recommendation a B grade.

This is a change. The Task Force says it used to recommend that women start screening between the ages of 40 and 50, and it now recommends that all women start when they turn 40. It says it weighed the benefits and harms and concluded, as it has in the past, that the benefits outweigh the harms for women between 40 and 49.

Other groups land in different places, the Task Force notes. The American Cancer Society recommends regular screening mammography starting at age 45 for women at average risk. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says women at average risk should be offered screening starting at 40, using shared decision-making, and should begin no later than age 50.

Past age 74, the picture is less clear. The Task Force says breast cancer incidence peaks among those aged 70 to 74 and mortality rises with age, but no randomized trials of screening included women 75 or older. It concluded there is insufficient evidence to recommend for or against screening mammography in women 75 years or older.

If you or someone close to you is near these ages, talk with a doctor. Personal risk, breast density and past screening all shape what makes sense.