Breast Cancer Screening For Black Women Should Begin At An Early Age, a Study Suggests

(CTN News) – Women often develop breast cancer, and it is the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States.

It is true that this disease is slightly less prevalent among Black women than it is among white women, but Black women have a higher chance of dying from it than White women.

It is suggested that women begin screening for breast cancer at the age of 50, a recommendation that has been made by the U.S. A group of independent medical experts, the USPSTF is an independent group of medical experts that has been charged with the responsibility of recommending clinical preventive services, such as screening tests, to the general public.

Women are now able to get mammograms at a much younger age now than they ever were in the past, starting as early as the age of 40. This is an important point to keep in mind, however.

Researchers involved in a large new study recommend that health policymakers and clinicians consider screening Black women for breast cancer earlier, beginning at age 42, than other racial and ethnic groups.

As a result of this strategy, according to the researchers, the breast cancer mortality gap that exists between black women and white women may be reduced to a great extent.

The current one-size-fits-all policy of screening the entire female population from a certain age may not be fair nor equitable nor in the best interests of all women,” the researchers wrote in the study, which was published last week in the medical journal JAMA Network Open.

Despite the fact that Black women are diagnosed with breast cancer at the same rate as other ethnicities, they have a significantly higher mortality rate than their counterparts.

In relation to white women, Black women suffer a 4% lower incidence rate of breast cancer, but a 40% higher risk of dying as a result of the disease, when compared to white women.

According to the researchers, the significant mortality disparity between the two groups for breast cancer has stabilised over the past three decades after having widened over the previous three decades.

During the study period from 2011 to 2020, there were a total of 415,277 deaths of females due to breast cancer in the United States.

A number of categories were included in the dataset, such as age, race, and ethnicity.

In order to estimate the cumulative 10-year risk of dying from breast cancer in the general population once they have reached the age of 50, a time at which the USPSTF recommends women begin biennial mammograms as a health screening procedure.

As a result of the data collected in the study, the authors concluded that Black women reach this risk level at 42, roughly eight years earlier than white women, and therefore they suggest that it would be a good idea to screen them earlier in life.

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