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Govt. Panel Recommends Fewer Mammograms

Breast cancer screenings should start at 50, not 40: task force

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 16, 2009 5:12 PM CST
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(Newser) – Most women can wait to get their first mammogram at 50 and then should get one every 2 years rather than annually, a powerful health policy group said today. New information led to the recommendations, said a member of the influential task force that reversed a 7-year-old edict urging aggressive screening for breast cancer starting at age 40. The extra screenings did not have a strong enough effect in reducing cancer to outweigh the detrimental effects of the screenings themselves, the task force found.

Those risks include extreme anxiety and unnecessary treatment. Insurance companies and Medicare are expected to reduce coverage of screenings in line with the new recommendation, which does not apply to women with recognized risk factors, the New York Times reports. But a statistician involved with the task force stressed that it was not an economic decision: “The money was buying something of net negative value. The economy benefits, but women are the major beneficiaries.”

An influential breast cancer group issued new guidelines on how oftenw omen should get mammograms.
An influential breast cancer group issued new guidelines on how oftenw omen should get mammograms.   (Shutterstock)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 8 comments
doingtherightthing
Nov 17, 2009 12:04 PM CST
Obamacare less expensive medical care for older women coming......The government never gets human health care right.........hey where's my shot oops, no vaccine......
dax
Nov 17, 2009 7:16 AM CST
DLY - No, YOUR comments are a distortion. Currently RIGHT NOW patients are being redirected by doctors to P.A.s, nurses etc. and in fact this trend has been developing for some time. (Not to disparage P.A.s and nurses, as some seem to be more capable and better mannered than some docs).---- Cutting corners in healthcare has been in play a while.
brawne
Nov 17, 2009 5:13 AM CST
Yeah, if Obama care is not spending tons of money on shit we don't need. Why don't you go separate a conjoined twin? If, your DR means anything you know what cancer is--wacko cells made and killed everyday. History, history, history. If, it were not important--every doctor wouldn't want it. Why do you think that after we invented the MRI that we don't just all get a body scan? Cause a cancer on Tuesday is gone on Friday. When it isn't then you got history. If you're over seventy then you're on a different field. But, I have friends at seventy who won't let that estrogen go. No matter how many breasts, uteruses or whatever they have to give up--and the chemo- EXPENSIVE. to feel young.

 
cancer • breast cancer • chemotherapy • mastectomy • mammogram • cancer screening

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