By Chris Brown

AHS lowers recommended age for breast cancer screening by five years

Oct 18, 2022 | 10:18 AM

Alberta has become the first province to update guidelines that lower the recommended age for women to begin clinical breast cancer screening every two years.

According to the province, the updated guidelines were created by the Alberta Breast Cancer Screening Clinical Practice Guideline Committee and are the result of an extensive review of newly available evidence. The recommended age for biennial screening for average-risk women has been lowered to 45 from 50.

“More evidence has become available to show net benefits of breast cancer screening at a younger age,” says committee co-chair Dr. Huiming Yang. “That is why the breast cancer screening guidelines now recommend including average-risk women aged 45 to 49 into biennial screening. We hope this will help to diagnose breast cancer earlier and, in turn, help save lives.”

Screening is the best way to find breast cancer early before symptoms appear and when treatment may work better. Alberta women ages 45 to 74 are advised to have a screening mammogram every two years or as decided in conjunction with a health-care provider.

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The province says that based on current screening rates, about 12,000 more screening mammograms could be performed each year for women aged 45 to 49. According to the most recent statistics, more than 240 Alberta women between the ages of 45 and 49 were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018.

The updated guidelines can be found at screeningforlife.ca.

Mobile mammography in southern Alberta

The Alberta Health Services Screen Test program will give women in southern Alberta access to mammography services in October and November.

A mobile screening trailer will be stationed at Taber’s Heritage Inn on Oct. 29 and 31 and from Nov. 1-4. Appointments are required and can be booked by calling 1-800-667-0604.