Breast cancer screening age officially lowered from 50 to 40, amid worrying rise of disease in young women

The age that women should begin regular breast cancer screening has dropped from 50 to 40, according to new official guidance from the US' chief disease prevention body.

The US Preventive Services Task force (USPSTF) finalized Tuesday the draft recommendation from last year, amid rising cases of the disease in women under 50. 

Recommendations from the group are almost always adopted as best practice by physicians across the US. 

For instance, the same agency lowered the minimum colonoscopy screening age from 50 to 45 last year. 

The ruling reverses longstanding guidance recommending women start regular screening, done through a specialist x-ray called a mammogram, at age 50. 

Breast cancer screening is done through an x-ray called a mammogram, which involves placing the breasts between metal plates to flatten them and get images from above and from the sides

The procedure involves placing the breasts between metal plates to flatten them and get images from above and from the sides. 

Dr John Wong, USPSTF vice president, cited a rise in breast cancer cases in women under 50, which recent research shows has increased by three percent per year.

This includes actress Olivia Munn, who was diagnosed with the disease at age 43 after an initial test missed her tumor.

'There is clear evidence that starting screening every other year at age 40 provides sufficient benefit that we should recommend it for all women in this country to help them live longer and have a better quality of life,' Dr Wong, a primary care physician at Tufts Medical Center in Massachusetts, said.

USPSTF has previously said an extra 20 million women in their 40s would benefit from a mammogram every two years.

Olivia Munn revealed earlier this year that she was diagnosed with breast cancer  - having undergone four surgeries in the last 10 months 

The agency continues to recommend screening every two years for women at average risk of breast cancer, though many women opt for annual mammograms.

The task force noted that there is not enough evidence to endorse extra scans, such as ultrasounds or MRIs, for women with dense breast tissue. 

Experts previously told DailyMail.com that tumors can be more difficult to detect in women with dense breasts, leading initial mammograms to potentially miss them.

Beginning in September, all mammography centers will be required to tell women if they have dense breast tissue. 

The above graph shows the change in cancer case rates around the world

The above graph shows the changes in breast cancer screenings (black line) since 2017 by month. It also shows a predicted screening rate (yellow dotted line) and the Covid infection rate (blue line) in the US over the same period. Screenings were initially steady but dropped in the first year of the pandemic by as much as 14 percent

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in both the US and the world. 

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates there will be more than 300,000 new cases this year, along with 43,700 deaths. 

According to the Mayo Clinic, signs of breast cancer include a lump that feels different from surrounding tissue, a change in the shape or appearance of the breast, inverted nipple, peeling or flaking of pigmented skin around the nipple, and redness or pitting around the skin of the breast. 

Death rates have plummeted 43 percent between 1989 and 2020, after successful public health awareness campaigns, better screening and new drugs.

And nine in 10 patients are expected to survive after five years.

In a study published last year in JAMA Network Open, researchers found that the number of women getting screened for breast cancer has declined since the Covid pandemic began.  

Looking through 1.6million breast cancer screening records, they found that screenings dropped by 14 percent in the first year of the pandemic. 

Not all experts agree with the panel's recommendations. 

Dr Robert Traynham, a spokesperson for AHIP - which represents health insurance companies - said that the panel's decision to not endorse extra scans could have negative consequences for patients. 

'What that means for coverage is that there is no mandate to cover these specific screenings for women with dense breasts at zero-dollar cost-sharing,' he said. 

Rosa DeLauro, a democratic representative from Connecticut, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a democratic representative from Florida, said the advice does not go far enough.

In a letter sent to USPSTF in June, they said the guidance continued to 'fall short of the science, create coverage gaps, and generate uncertainty for women and their providers, and exacerbate health disparities.'