With the American Cancer Society advising all women over age 40 to get a yearly mammogram and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommending that women between the ages of 50 and 74 get a mammogram only once every two years, it is difficult for women to decide which advice is correct, leading to unnecessary confusion on a highly emotional matter.
Now, new research led by Dejana Braithwaite, Ph.D., an assistant professor of epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, found that it might suffice for older women to be screened for breast cancer once every two years supporting the USPSTF s recommendation.
Researchers examined records of about 140,000 women ages 66 to 89 who had mammograms between 1999 and 2006. Some of the women had mammograms every year while others had them every other year.
After considering different elements such as age, race, and place of residence, the proportion [of women] with adverse tumor characteristics was similar among annual and biennial screeners, the researchers wrote in a study published Tuesday by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Researchers did however find harm: the more times that a woman was screened, the greater the odds of getting a false positive reading on a mammogram, leading to needless anxiety and procedures.
ACSH s Dr. Ruth Kava asks, While it's important to know about the lack of efficacy of annual screenings, I wonder whether there's a similar difference in women with a family history (not including women with BRCA genes).
ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross says, This is a bit surprising, since the risk of breast cancer increases with age. But it has been shown in many studies that the benefits of routine mammography screening are exaggerated, and the risks flowing from many false positives have not been given enough credence. So this study will help to correct those problems.