Alta. lowers breast cancer screening age to 45

AHS lowered the recommended age for biennial breast cancer screening for average-risk women from 50 to 45. Alta. is the first province to make these changes. AHS says the updated guidelines were created by the Alberta Breast Cancer Screening Clinical Practice Guideline Committee, which says more evidence became available to show net benefits of breast cancer screening at a younger age. The committee is comprised of 12 voting members, including family and public health physicians, radiologists, and a patient, surgeon, medical oncologist, radiological technician and nurse. AHS said about 12,000 more screening mammograms could be performed each year for women aged 45 to 49, based on current screening rates.