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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Screening with mammograms is important to diagnosis and treatment. Screening does not come without risks and should be discussed with your doctor. Screening is appropriate for most women between ages of 50 and 75 every 2 years (USPSTF).

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Further benefit/risk breakdown:

We used to recommend beginning screening starting at age 40.

• Starting screening every 2 years at 40 years of age compared with 50 years:
  • Will extend the life of less than 1 of 1,000 women.
• Starting screening every 2 years at 50 years of age compared with 60 years:
  • Will extend the lives of 1 – 2 of 1,000 women
• Screening every 2 years between 60 and 69 years of age:
  • Extends the lives of 3 – 4 of 1,000 women.

In all these age groups, 350 – 500 women would have at least 1 false-positive result over the 10 year interval.

The best estimates of how many women would be overdiagnosed and overtreated (harmed) are:

• 6 per 1,000 in their 40s
• 8 per 1,000 in their 50s
• 10 per 1,000 in their 60s

Although the benefits of screening mammography increase with age, so do the harms; the balance between benefits and harms may be close in all of these age groups. All eligible women—not only those in their 40s—should understand these numbers before agreeing to be screened.

Am Fam Physician. 2013 Feb 15;87(4):246-247.