Scottish Daily Mail

Breast tests in 40s will ‘save 300 lives a year’

- By Eleanor Hayward Health Reporter

‘One in eight women diagnosed’

HUNDREDS of lives could be saved each year if women in their 40s were invited for breast cancer screening, researcher­s have found.

The NHS offers women aged 50 to 71 a mammogram every three years, but a study has found that if the age limit was lowered to 40, it would prevent 300 deaths a year – mostly among women in their 40s and 50s.

The trial, published today in the Lancet Oncology, involved 160,000 British women who were followed over 23 years. About 50,000 were invited for mammograms every year in their 40s, while the others had the usual NHS breast screening which starts at 50.

Researcher­s found that deaths from breast cancer were 25 per cent lower among the group screened in their 40s. In total, 620 years of life were saved in the interventi­on group compared to the non-screening group.

Breast cancer screening uses an X-ray test called a mammogram to spot cancers that are too small to see or feel. If detected early, the disease can be treated and patients have a good chance of recovering.

Lead author Professor Stephen Duffy, from Queen Mary University of London, said: ‘The screening programme is estimated to save 1,500 lives a year... (but) lowering the age to include women in their 40s would save an extra 300 lives a year.

‘Our study clearly shows that screening in women under 50 can save lives. The benefit is seen mostly in the first ten years, but the reduction in mortality persists in the long term at about one life saved per thousand women screened.’

One in eight women in the UK are diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime, with 55,000 new cases each year.

The latest study used data from the UK Breast Screening Age Trial, which recruited women aged 39 to 41 between 1990 and 1997. Professor Duffy said: ‘The NHS is dealing with a huge backlog of breast cancer screening due to lockdown, but it is definitely worth considerin­g lowering the age to people in their 50s.’

He said more research would be needed to determine if it was cost-effective.

Experts have previously been sceptical about the benefits of widespread screening. They say that catching a tumour early can sometimes lead women into having unnecessar­y and potentiall­y harmful treatments such as radiothera­py and chemothera­py. There are also fears about false-positive results, in which women are wrongly told they might have breast cancer.

Sophia Lowes, from Cancer Research UK, said: ‘Although of high quality, this study alone isn’t enough to call for a reduction in the screening age, and further investigat­ion is needed.

‘Compared to the existing screening programme, in the younger age group, six times more women would need to be screened to save one life. Many women received false-positive results and some women would have been over-diagnosed with cancers that would never have gone on to cause them harm.

‘Regardless of how old you are, you should still tell your doctor if you notice anything unusual.’

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