2023-05-09 17:58:20
Previously, it was recommended that women be screened from the age of 50. This change in recommendation is the result of new scientific evidence, as the number of these cancers increases.
A US Preventive Services Task Force on Tuesday called for women to get breast cancer screening every two years starting at age 40, up from 50 years ago, due to new evidence. scientists, as the prevalence of this cancer increases in the country, reports the NBC.
The latest directive from this working group, published in 2016, recommended screening at the age of 50, an age also set for screening in France. However, the working group had already recommended, seven years ago, that women in their forties could speak to their doctor about the possibility of being screened, especially in the event 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 forties has increased by 2% per year on average between 2015 and 2019. According to them, lowering the age at Age 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 annual 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 miss cancers if we screen every two years” and not every year. Other medical groups, such as the American cancer society or the American college of radiology already recommend screenings from the age of 40, and at an annual frequency.
Dr. Phoebe Freer, head of breast imaging at the Kathryn F. Kirk Center, a cancer specialist and also quoted by NBC, believes, however, that screening every two years will not do much to reduce disparities in results. breast cancer, while nationwide, black women are 40% more likely to die of breast cancer than white women.
People with dense breasts should also be screened every year, according to specialists.
These new recommendations are not yet final, being first subject to a period of public debate. Most private insurance should cover recommendations issued by the US Preventive Services Task Force.
In France, screening for 50 to 74 year olds…
In France, screening is organized by Health Insurance every two years for women aged 50 to 74, without any particular risk factor or apparent symptom. They receive by mail an invitation to be tested free of charge.
“Women with a high or very high risk of breast cancer can benefit from specific follow-up adapted to their individual situation”, specifies however the Health Insurance.
The website of the National Cancer Institute, which recalls that this cancer is “the most frequent and the most deadly in women, ahead of that of the colon-rectum and the lung”, with some 59,000 new diagnoses and more than 12,000 deaths This year.
“Nearly 80% of breast cancers affect people over the age of 50, 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 the 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 screening, systematically offered to women, it is recommended, from the age of 25, to have a clinical breast examination performed 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 for the appearance of any symptoms (lump in the breast or armpit, change in the skin of the breast, nipple or areola, flow…) and to carry out self-examination regularly”, recalls the center.
Health insurance also recommends reducing the risk of developing breast cancer by quitting smoking, consuming no more than two glasses of alcohol per day and not every day, eating a balanced and varied diet, and practicing a regular physical activity.
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