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The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has updated its guidelines for when women should start getting screened for breast cancer. Under the new set of draft guidelines, health officials now say that women should begin getting screened when they turn 40. They should then get screened every other year until they turn 74.
Previous recommendations said that women didn't need to start getting screened for breast cancer until the age of 50.
The guidelines were updated based on data from the National Cancer Institute that showed the rate of breast cancer in women between 40-49 increased by an average of 2% per year from 2015 to 2019.
"The goal is to find cancer earlier when it's treatable and curable," said Dr. Maxine Jochelson, chief of the breast imaging service at Memorial Sloan Kettering, according to ABC News. "I do think that by screening women earlier and more frequently, we will find smaller cancers more frequently."
"With our new recommendation, it saves 20% more lives across the board for all women," said Dr. Wanda Nicholson, the task force's vice chair.