When Should You Get a Mammogram?

When it comes to detecting breast cancer, regular testing matters. But precisely how early and how often you should get screened isn’t so straightforward. Medical guidance can seem bewilderingly inconsistent. Some agencies recommend annual checks from age 40 onward, for example, while others have said to wait until age 50.

Why does age matter for mammograms? Generally, breast cancer is more likely to develop with age because the risk of genetic mutations increases, and the mutations become harder to repair. Natural shifts in hormones can also play a role.

Most insurance plans cover mammogram screenings, but additional tests such as ultrasounds or magnetic resonance imaging may vary by state or require insurance authorization. Wong says the task force recognizes that insurance coverage and screening costs are important—but he notes that these decisions are not under the task force’s control and remain at the jurisdiction of payers, insurers and legislators.

Two-dimensional-image mammograms are the cornerstone of breast cancer screening tests. Additionally, three-dimensional mammograms, or digital breast tomosyntheses, use several x-ray images to create a more complete picture of the breast, Wong says. Additional screening technologies look at tissues differently. Ultrasound machines bounce acoustic waves off body tissues to create an image, and MRI involves injecting a dye that helps visualize tissues and blood vessels in greater detail.

According to a 2021 study in the journal Cancer, women in racial or ethnic minority groups are 127 percent more likely to die of breast cancer before age 50 than non-Hispanic white women. And research in 2019 found that Black women are also 42 percent more likely to die from breast cancer despite similar diagnosis rates and are more likely to be diagnosed with later stages of the disease. There are several reasons for these disparities, Bea says.

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