Task force updates guidance for breast cancer screenings for women 40 and older

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN

(CNN) – Women are now advised to get a mammogram every other year starting at age 40 and until age 74, according to new recommendations from the US Preventive Services Task Force.

The USPSTF, a volunteer panel of independent medical experts whose recommendations help guide doctors’ decisions and influence insurance plans, previously recommended that biennial mammograms start by age 50 and the decision for women to screen in their 40s “should be an individual one.”

These new recommendations, published Tuesday in the medical journal JAMA, replace the task force’s 2016 recommendations. Some groups, such as the American Cancer Society, have already recommended for women to start mammograms in their 40s.

The updated USPSTF recommendations apply to everyone assigned female at birth, including cisgender women, transgender men and nonbinary people at average risk of breast cancer, as well as those with a family history of breast cancer or dense breasts.

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