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home / 世界杯决赛2022

alberta lowers recommended age for breast cancer screening

'health economics have shown that it's more cost effective to find a cancer early than to treat a cancer once it's detected'

by olivia condon
published oct 18, 2022
read time 2 minute read
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read time 2 minute read
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in 2021, approximately 220,000 mammograms, from women of all ages, were completed in alberta. postmedia archive photo
based on new evidence, alberta health services announced tuesday it has lowered the recommended age for women to begin getting breast cancer screens to 45 from 50 years old, making alberta the first province in canada to do so. a 12-person committee — comprising public health physicians, radiologists, a breast cancer patient, family of patients, a surgeon, a medical oncologist, a radiological technician and a nurse — studied scientific evidence and data from across the province to make the recommendation.
committee co-chair dr. lisa stevenson said by lowering the age for screening, the hope is that early detection will save more lives.
“what we saw when we looked at the alberta data was that even though women in that (45 to 49) age group screened a lot less, only about 25 per cent, we saw a very similar amount of breast cancers compared to the women that were screening at age 50,” she said. “so we think that if we bring that age group down, we’re going to pick up a lot of early breast cancers that potentially could be more easily treated with less invasive treatment, less harm to the woman and a greater chance of cure.”
stevenson said women under 45 are at low risk of getting breast cancer, and lowering the recommended screening age below that would increase false positives as well as the cost to the health-care system. the same is true for having screening done annually as opposed to biennially as the guidelines suggest.
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“when we did the modelling, we felt that recommending every two years starting at age 45, to the age of 74, gives us the most benefit, at the same time minimizing the additional screens and the cost to the system, and the anxiety around false positives. so we get about 80 per cent of the benefits of biennial screening,” she said.
“health economics have shown that it’s more cost effective to find a cancer early than to treat a cancer once it’s detected . . . so if we can catch it, it will cost less to the system and be more successful than if we try to treat the cancer at a later stage.”
the province’s previous guidelines for breast cancer screening were released in 2013.
according to ahs, and based on current screening rates, lowering the recommended age will enable roughly 12,000 more mammograms to be completed each year for women aged 45 to 49.
in 2018, the most recent year numbers were provided by ahs, 240 alberta women in that age bracket were diagnosed with breast cancer.
in 2019, more than 35,000 women between 45 and 49 received breast cancer screens. screens were paused in march 2020 until may of that year. in 2021, approximately 220,000 mammograms, from women of all ages, were completed.
the new guidelines recommend women over 45 get breast cancer screenings every two years, stevenson said.
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ocondon@postmedia.com

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