Opinion: Why new guidelines recommending screening at 40 can’t end the mammography wars
New breast cancer screening guidelines from the United States Preventive Services Task Force give the impression that the decades-long debate over when women should start getting mammograms is settled. The agency now recommends beginning at age 40, reversing the age-50 guideline that had been in place since 2009. This change aligns it with other expert organizations such as the American College of Radiology (though the two still differ on whether women should get mammograms annually or every two years).
Despite this apparent new consensus, the “mammography wars” are not over.
