Mammograms Should Now Start at Age 40 [Video]

Women should start getting regular mammograms at age 40 — a decade earlier than previously recommended — to detect breast cancer.

“Among all US women, breast cancer is the second most common cancer and the second most common cause of cancer death. In 2023, an estimated 43,170 women died of breast cancer,” the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said in its announcement Tuesday of the new guidelines. 

Although incidence of breast cancer has been steadily rising in women in their forties since 2000, the agency said it “increased more noticeably from 2015 to 2019, with a 2.0% average annual increase.”

Previous guidelines, issued in 2016, advised that women aged 40-49 may consider getting a mammogram based on their family history or other risk; otherwise, screening was recommended to begin at age 50.

The USPSTF noted that while white women have the highest rates of breast …