New breast screening guidelines aim at rising cancer rate in 40-somethings

One in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives.

However, a shift in who is getting breast cancer has triggered a change in mammogram guidelines.

Finally, 40 is the new 50, when it comes to when women should start mammograms.

Since 2009, the US Preventive Services Task Force recommended age 50, even though major medical groups, and even health insurers, backed starting at age 40.

But Dr. Claire Streibert, director of women's imaging at Fox Chase Cancer Center, says things started changing.

"There were more women getting breast cancer in their 40s. And that the rates were increasing by about 2% a year," says Dr. Streibert.

Dr. Wanda Richardson, the USPSTF task force chair, says statistics revealed a deeper problem.

"Black women are 40% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women, and all too often get more aggressive cancers at a younger age," Dr. Richardson said.

In April, the task force went back to age 40.

However, Dr. Streibert says other concerning guidelines didn't change.

"One is that they still recommend getting a mammogram every other year," she says. "Women get their greatest benefit in decreasing mortality by having annual screening."

On average, breast cancers double in size about every six months, so a two-year wait could allow a 1/4-inch tumor to grow to 2 inches.

The guidelines also recommend ending mammograms at age 74, although more than half of American women live to 80 or beyond.

Dr. Streibert says other disparities such as cost, and transportation must come down so every woman has regular access.

The Fox Chase mobile van was among the first to bring screenings right to women, including those without insurance.

And soon, every woman screened through Fox Chase will get a personalized risk assessment.

"We'll be integrating into our reports to screening mammograms, we'll be giving women a lifetime risk score," says Dr. Streibert.

Through the American Academy of Radiology, she and other radiologists still want the task force to endorse starting the process at age 25 with an individual risk assessment so young women know where they stand.