Lowering the recommended age for mammogram screening to 40 urged by doctors and breast cancer survivors in Canada

Doctors and breast cancer survivors are urging Canada to lower the recommended age for regular screening mammograms to 40, following a draft recommendation by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force calling for women to be screened for breast cancer every two years between the ages of 40 and 74. However, Canada’s current guidelines on regular screening mammography only recommend patients between the ages of 50 and 74, with women in their 40s being accepted if referred by a doctor or through self-referral in some provinces. The guidelines range across the country with mammograms being only available for people over the age of 50 in several provinces such as Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador. The current screening guidelines from the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care date back to 2018 citing concerns about overdiagnosis and false positives when patients are screened at a younger age, leading to unnecessary treatment of cancer that would not have caused illness.
However, some people argue that earlier detection means the cancer might be treated through removal of the tumor, not the entire breast, and patients could be spared the punishing side-effects of chemotherapy. Dr. Paula Gordon, a Vancouver oncologist and professor at the University of British Columbia, said concerns about false positives and overdiagnosis are overblown and yearly screening from the age of 40 should be recommended.
We know that Black women and Asian women, peak at a younger age than Caucasian counterparts with aggressive cancers, so Dr. Mojola Omole, a surgical oncologist with the Scarborough Health Network in Toronto, suggests that Canada should use the US example to lower the recommended age for regular screening mammograms to 40, with yearly screening recommended for Black, Hispanic and Asian patients. Black women are also 40 per cent more likely to die from breast cancer than white women, according to the US task force which called for more research on how to better protect these patients.
    
One in every eight Canadian women is expected to develop breast cancer, with one in 33 dying from it.  According to Dr. Gordon, if early cancers are found, lives could be saved and the necessity for chemotherapy may be prevented. However, patients need to be aware of the risks of earlier screening, which also include false positives. Task force co-chair Dr. Guylène Thériault suggested that patients need to be informed of the pros and cons then decide for themselves with their values, preferences, and where they are in their lives, whether the screening is something worth it or something that they will forgo. 
Despite concerns about early screening, current research suggests that it is the appropriate step forward for the future of breast cancer detection, and it is hoped that Canada can soon be brought in line with the US, opening the chance for individuals to catch the illness and take proactive measures to recover.