A major new study of mammogram outcomes presented at the RSNA conference series on Hot Topics in Breast Imaging contends that there is no clear age at which women should stop undergoing screenings.
Dr. Cindy Lee, the lead study author and an assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco, presented results from analysis based on data in the National Mammography Database covering more than 5.6 million mammograms performed over a 7-year period between 2008 and 2014 – the “largest-ever study of mammography outcomes.”
Concentrating on four outcomes (mammogram results, recall rates for additional testing, biopsy referrals, and biopsy results), the study held that “based on increasing age, performance metrics demonstrated an upward trend for cancer detection rate and positive predictive values, and a downward trend in recall rates until age 90.”
Drawing from these findings, Dr. Lee stated that “The continuing increase of cancer detection rate and positive predictive values in women between the ages of 75 and 90 does not provide evidence for age-based mammography cessation.” There is, she continued, “no magical age number at which you should stop people from getting screened for breast cancer, because it’s an individual decision.”
Since the benefit continues with increasing age up until 90, women who may think they are getting too old to worry about mammograms may want to reconsider, said Lee.
In contrast to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines of 2009, which stated there wasn’t enough evidence to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening mammography in women aged 75 and older, Lee held that older women, with perhaps 10 years of life expectancy, might choose to continue with mammogram screening.
