Why is 40 a Good Year to Begin Annual Mammograms?

By National Cancer Institute - US National Institutes of Health - National Cancer Institutehttp://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/screening/breast/Patient/page3
http://www.cancer.gov/images/cdr/live/CDR415525-750.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=601035

A practicing radiologist in Los Angeles, California, Dr. Jeff Lovin has made several conference presentations about diagnostic imaging and breast cancer. Dr. Jeff Lovin is a member of the Society of Breast Imaging, an organization that advocates for and promotes education and breast health to minimize the occurrence of breast cancer

Mammography makes early detection possible, allowing doctors to intervene with the less-invasive surgery that works in the early stages of cancer. Thanks to widespread mammography beginning in the early 1990s, the number of deaths from breast cancer dropped some 30 percent, the first change in 50 years. Although other screening methods, such as MRI, are also used, these measures locate only small cancers. (Mortality rates following these procedures, however, have not been researched.)

Studies have proven that 40 is the best age to begin annual mammograms since the number of diagnoses increases dramatically after that milestone. In fact, the incidence rate for 40- to 44-year-olds is twice as high as for the 35-39 range. In the United States, screening after 40 saves 4,500 more lives annually, as compared to screening starting at 50.

Although waiting for test results heightens anxiety, these feelings decrease over time. Even when tests come back with false positives, those women remain in favor of screening.