Doctors are now urging women to get mammograms every year beginning at age 40, not at age 50 as previously recommended.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists updated its breast screening guidelines July 20 due to increasing incidences of rapidly progressing breast cancers occurring among younger women and in their efforts to prevent breast cancer deaths.
“If women in their 40s have annual mammograms, there is a better chance of detecting and treating the cancer before it has time to spread than if they wait two years between mammograms,” says Dr. Jennifer Griffin, who co-authored the guidelines.
Recommended For You
Guideline authors say that although breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed noncutaneous cancer, and the second leading cause of cancer death in American women, earlier detection and improved treatment have contributed to a steady decrease in breast cancer-related mortality since 1990.
Having more frequent breast screenings targets achieving successful cancer detection among younger women during what's known as sojourn time, the short time period in which a tumor is still very small and not yet symptomatic. Among younger breast cancer patients, the window of opportunity is smaller because these cancers are more aggressive and grow larger in a shorter period of time. Women in their 40s have the shortest sojourn time of 2-2.4 years, while women 70-74 have the longest average sojourn time of 4-4.1 years.
The new guidelines put the ACOG in line with other organizations, including the American Cancer Society, the American College of Radiology and the Society of Breast Imaging.
Back in November 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government-sponsored group that provides guidance to doctors, insurance companies and policymakers, came out with controversial guidelines that suggested women in their 40s may not need regular mammograms and that women 50 and older should get them every other year instead of annually. The task force cited potential over-treatment and false positives for its reasoning.
The ACOG, along with most health organizations, didn't agree. Every year, 40,000 women in the U.S. will contract breast cancer in their 40s, and 20 percent of them will die.
In addition to the new guidelines, the ACOG continues to recommend women ages 20 to 29 receive clinical breast examinations every one to three years, and women at high risk of breast cancer receive enhanced screening.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
