Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines by Age

These recommendations are for women at average risk: no personal history of breast cancer, no known high-risk gene change, and no radiation therapy to the chest at a young age.

The Task Force recommendation covers everyone assigned female at birth, including transgender men and nonbinary people, and applies to women with a family history of breast cancer or dense breasts as long as they are otherwise at average risk.

Start at 40. Until 2024 the Task Force left the decision about screening in the 40s to each woman and her clinician. It now recommends starting at 40, and ACOG updated its own recommendation the same year, citing rising rates of breast cancer in younger women.

Keep going. The American Cancer Society says screening should continue for as long as a woman is in good health and expected to live at least 10 more years. The Task Force found the evidence insufficient to recommend for or against screening at 75 and older, which makes it an individual decision rather than a stopping point.

This is the real difference between the guidelines, and it is a trade-off rather than a right answer. Screening every year finds some cancers sooner. It also means more callbacks for findings that turn out not to be cancer, and more biopsies. Screening every two years reduces those, and the Task Force judged that it offers the more favorable balance of benefits and harms.

Your own risk, your breast density, and how you weigh a false alarm against an earlier finding all belong in that decision. It is one we are glad to talk through at a screening visit.

The schedules above do not apply to you if you have a known BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene change, had radiation therapy to the chest at a young age, or have had breast cancer or a high-risk breast lesion.

The American Cancer Society recommends that women at high risk have a breast MRI and a mammogram every year, typically starting at age 30. The American College of Radiology recommends that all women have a risk assessment by age 25, so that those who need earlier screening can be identified. See high-risk screening.

The American Cancer Society does not recommend clinical breast exams for screening in women at average risk, and says that breast self-exams are not enough for screening on their own. It does ask everyone to know how their breasts normally look and feel, and to report a change right away. See signs and symptoms.