Starting breast cancer screening in women’s early 40s will save more lives, according to new research.
Nearly 3 in 4 women (73%) in their 40s discover they have breast cancer only after developing symptoms, researchers reported on May 30 in the journal Radiology: Imaging Cancer.
These women are less likely to survive compared to those whose breast cancer is detected early through screening methods like mammography, researchers say.
For instance, the odds of having advanced, harder-to-treat breast cancer are more than six times higher among symptomatic women, the study shows.
Lead researcher Dr. Jean Seely, a professor of radiology at the University of Ottawa in Canada, stated in a news release: “The patients whose breast cancers were detected because of symptoms had a 63% higher likelihood of dying.”
Current Screening Guidelines
The study emerges as the United States and Canada have been reassessing when women should begin receiving regular mammograms.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force last year updated its guidelines to recommend breast cancer screening every two years for women ages 40 to 75.
Similarly, the American Cancer Society now recommends annual mammograms for women ages 45 to 54, with women in their early 40s having the option to start screening if they choose.
However, the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care continues recommending that women start screening at age 50.
This affects how long Canadian women might carry breast cancer before detection, Seely said.
She noted: “I observed a marked difference in the way breast cancers were being detected in my clinical practice. I noted that many women under the age of 50 and older than 75 were diagnosed because of symptomatic presentation.”
Study Details
Researchers tracked the progress of 821 women aged 40 and older diagnosed with breast cancer at The Ottawa Hospital in 2016.
Among those patients, 50% had their breast cancer diagnosed as the result of a symptom rather than being caught early by mammogram. Symptoms included a palpable lump, skin or nipple changes, concerning nipple discharge, swollen lymph nodes, and breast pain.
Breast cancers detected by symptoms rather than screening were more frequent in women’s 40s, representing 73% of cases.
Likewise, approximately 70% of women older than 75 discovered they had breast cancer after developing symptoms, rather than through screening.
Mortality Findings
Deaths were higher among patients who didn’t have their breast cancer detected early through screening, researchers reported.
Seely stated: “Within only 6.7 years of follow-up, almost 20% of the 821 breast cancer patients had died, half of them from breast cancer.”
Women who’d developed symptoms from their breast cancer were 6.6 times more likely to have advanced cancer and 2.2 times more likely to need a mastectomy as part of their treatment, researchers found.
Policy Implications
Seely concluded: “The results of this study will likely support the move to reduce the breast cancer screening age to 40 in the U.S. and Canada. We have lowered the screening age in many provincial and territorial screening programs in Canada and are aiming to establish a single national policy for screening.”
This research provides compelling evidence that earlier screening could significantly improve breast cancer outcomes for women in their 40s, potentially preventing later-stage diagnoses and reducing mortality rates in this age group.