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April 20, 2023 — A new study suggests that women should get their first breast cancer screenings at different ages based on race. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, looked at more than 415,000 female breast cancer deaths in the United States from 2011 to 2020.
American women are generally urged to get their first screening at 50, the study says.
“Black females should start screening 8 years earlier, at age 42 years, whereas White females could start at age 51 years, American Indian or Alaska Native and Hispanic females at age 57 years, and Asian or Pacific Islander females at age 61 years,” the study says.
“These findings suggest that health policy makers and clinicians could consider an alternative, race and ethnicity–adapted approach in which Black female patients start screening earlier.”
The researchers wrote that breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women. It is slightly less common among African American women compared to white women. However, Black women have a 40% higher risk of dying due to early-onset breast cancer.
“The current one-size-fits-all policy to start screening all women from a certain age may not be fair, equitable, or optimal,” the study reports.
Some experts said the study was “a well-designed one,” STAT reported.
“Breast cancers do occur earlier in certain populations,” Joannie Ivory, MD the chief oncology fellow at the University of North Carolina, told STAT. “I think what the (authors) are attempting to do is actually trying to provide us with some evidence-based study to help guide our conversations with patients.”
Others pointed out that the study didn’t use mammogram screening information, so it might not be an ideal basis for screening recommendations.
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