Black women should have their first breast cancer screening at age 42

April 20, 2023 — A new study suggests that women should have their first breast cancer screening at different ages depending on their race. The study, published in Open JAMA Networkexamined more than 415,000 female breast cancer deaths in the United States from 2011 to 2020.

American women are usually asked for their first screening at age 50, according to the study.

“Black women should start screening 8 years earlier, at age 42, while white women could start at age 51, Native American or Alaska Native and Hispanic women at age 57, and Asian or North Islander women Pacific at age 61,” the study said.

“These findings suggest that health care policy makers and clinicians could consider an alternative, race- and ethnicity-appropriate approach in which black patients begin screening earlier.”

The researchers wrote that breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women. It is slightly less common in African American women than in white women. However, black women have a 40% higher risk of dying from early breast cancer.

“The current one-size-fits-all policy to begin screening all women over a certain age may not be fair, equitable, or optimal,” the study reports.

Some experts said the study was “well designed”. STAT reported.

“Breast cancers occur earlier in certain populations,” Joannie Ivory, MD, an oncology research fellow at the University of North Carolina, told STAT. “I think what the (authors) are trying to do is actually try to provide us with evidence-based studies to help guide our conversations with patients.”

Others pointed out that the study did not use mammography screening information, so it may not be an ideal basis for screening recommendations.