How does getting a mammogram affect survival in different age groups?
Evidence about whether regular mammography can decrease a woman’s chance of dying from breast cancer has come from seven large-scale, randomized screening trials in which the proportion of women who died from breast cancer in the group assigned to screening is compared to those who were not offered screening. There is no convincing evidence that a woman under age 40 with average risk (defined as having none of the risk factors listed in question 11, excluding age) of breast cancer will benefit from regular mammograms. Two factors contribute to reducing the benefit in this age groupthe low incidence of breast cancer and the difficulty of “seeing” tumors with mammography in the relatively dense breasts of women younger than 40. For women in their 40s, there is recent evidence that screening with mammography on a regular basis reduces breast cancer deaths by about 17 percent. For women between the ages of 50 and 69, there is strong evidence that screening with mammography on a regular bas
