Screening Mammography for Women Age 40 to 49 Years

TO THE EDITOR:

Despite their stated goal of providing women with facts so that they can make informed decisions about mammography screening, the Clinical Efficacy Assessment Subcommittee of the American College of Physicians (1) has actually done just the opposite and has provided dangerously misleading and scientifically unjustified misinformation on the subject. They are clearly uninformed about the topic of mammography screening. A clear, significant decrease in breast cancer deaths is evident in screening women beginning at age 40 years—both from randomized, controlled trials, as well as when screening is introduced into the general population.

The age of 50 years has no relevance for mammography screening. No parameter of screening changes abruptly at age 50 years or at any other …