A US Preventive Services task force on Tuesday urged women to get screened for breast cancer every two years starting at age 40, up from 50 years ago, due to new scientific evidence, as the prevalence of this cancer increases in the country, reports the NBC.
The last directive of this working group, published in 2016, recommended screening at age 50, the age also set for screening in France. However, the working group had already recommended, seven years ago, that women in their forties talk to their doctor about the possibility of having a screening, especially in the case of a family history of this cancer, recall our colleagues.
Annual screening requested by oncologists
According to the working group, new scientific evidence justifies earlier screening, while the rate of breast cancer among women in their 40s has increased by an average of 2% per year between 2015 and 2019. According to them, lowering the age to 40 could save 19% more lives, while breast cancer is the second deadliest cancer in the United States.
“They’re a step in the right direction, but I’m concerned about the yearly periodicity,” Dr. Melissa Durand, an associate professor in the department of radiology and biomedical imaging at Yale School of Medicine, told NBC.
For her, “we will lose the cancers if we do the screening every two years” and not every year. Other medical groups, such as the American Cancer Society or the American College of Radiology, already recommend screening tests starting at age 40 and annually.
Dr. Phoebe Freer, chief of breast imaging at the Kathryn F. Kirk Center, a cancer specialist and also quoted by NBC, believes, however, that screening every two years won’t do much to reduce disparities. in breast cancer outcomes, while across the country, black women are 40% more likely to die of breast cancer than white women.
People with dense breasts should also have exams every year, according to specialists.
These new recommendations are not yet final, as they are first subject to a period of public discussion. Most private insurance should cover recommendations issued by the US Preventive Services Task Force.
In France, screening for people aged 50 to 74…
In France, the Health Insurance organizes screening every two years for women aged 50 to 74, without any particular risk factor or apparent symptom. They receive an invitation in the mail to get tested for free.
“Women with high or very high risk of breast cancer can benefit from a specific follow-up adapted to their individual situation”, however specifies the Health Insurance.
The internet site of the National Cancer Institute, which reports that cancer is “the most frequent and the most deadly for women, with the colon-rectum and poumon cells”, with 59,000 nouveaux diagnostics and more than 12,000 décès this year.
“Close to 80% of breast cancers affect people over 50 years of age, which is why organized screening is offered from this age,” says the National Cancer Institute.
According to this same source, approximately 10% of breast cancers occur in women under the age of 35 and 20% before the age of 50, but cancer most often develops around the age of 60.
…and clinical examination and self-monitoring from the age of 25
In addition to this organized examination, systematically offered to women, it is recommended, from the age of 25, to have a clinical examination of the breasts carried out by your doctor or gynecologist every year, specifies the Gustave Roussy center, a cancer specialist.
In addition to this, “all women are also encouraged to self-monitor the appearance of any symptoms (lump in the breast or armpit, change in the skin of the breast, nipple or areola, discharge…) and to carry out self-monitoring. regular exam”, recalls the center.
Health insurance also recommends reducing the risk of developing breast cancer by quitting smoking, not consuming more than two glasses of alcohol a day and not every day, eating a balanced and varied diet, and practicing regular physical activity.
Source: BFM TV
