Making Sense of the Mammogram “Debate”

Every three to four years, there is a very public “debate” about when and how often a woman in her 40s should get a mammogram. We worry that this “debate” (which is really less of a debate than different interpretations of the same information), is having unintended and dangerous consequences, fueling complacency and confusion that are keeping women away from screenings that could result in better treatment options and even save their lives.

The question isn’t whether mammography in this age group saves lives — we all agree that it does. Rather, the debate centers on whether enough lives are saved as a result of annual mammograms beginning at 40 to justify the known risks of false-positive diagnoses, missed tumors, exposure to low levels of radiation and anxiety. We worry that women hear only bits and pieces of this discussion and decide that maybe they can skip mammograms all together.

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