Mammograms ought to begin at age 40, in response to the U.S. Preventive Providers Taskforce. And a brand new examine finds hormone remedy for menopause signs is protected.
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
It has been a giant week in girls’s well being information. There’s a new suggestion from the U.S. Preventive Providers Job Pressure on what age to begin mammograms and an vital new examine on using hormone remedy to deal with the annoying signs of menopause. NPR’s Allison Aubrey is right here to assist us perceive these developments. Hey, Allison.
ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So let’s begin with breast most cancers screening. What’s new?
AUBREY: Nicely, there’ve been conflicting suggestions on what age to begin getting mammograms to display screen for breast most cancers. The duty drive now says all girls ought to begin by age 40. The earlier suggestion was to begin no later than 50. An enormous issue on this change, Ayesha, is the rise in breast most cancers amongst girls of their 40s. I spoke to physician Wanda Nicholson. She’s the chair of the U.S. Preventive Providers Job Pressure. She says the proof is obvious that early detection saves lives.
WANDA NICHOLSON: By beginning at age 40 persevering with each different 12 months, we discovered that we will cut back most cancers deaths considerably, as much as almost 20% extra lives saved.
AUBREY: That is about 8,000 lives a 12 months they estimate if each girl adopted the advice to get a mammogram each different 12 months.
RASCOE: Eight-thousand is quite a bit, and, , each life saved is important to that particular person and their households. So this looks as if a giant deal.
AUBREY: Completely. And Dr. Nicholson says simply that, all girls can profit from the screening. She additionally instructed me she desires to particularly encourage Black girls to observe the suggestions.
NICHOLSON: Black girls are 40% extra more likely to die from breast most cancers in comparison with white girls. We additionally know that every one too typically that Black girls get extra aggressive cancers at an earlier age.
AUBREY: The explanations for this, Ayesha, are usually not fully understood, and the duty drive is definitely calling for extra analysis to higher perceive it.
RASCOE: So given all that, why is the brand new suggestion to get a mammogram each different 12 months? Why not get screened yearly?
AUBREY: Nicely, the duty drive is just not against girls choosing extra frequent screenings. Their suggestion relies on the proof they’ve reviewed up to now, which suggests each different 12 months is efficient. However many, many docs and well being care methods do suggest annual screenings. And other people at greater danger because of genetics, household historical past, or individuals with dense breasts could also be referred for extra screenings, together with a 3D mammogram, ultrasound or an MRI.
RASCOE: Let’s transfer on to hormone remedy for menopause. This subject has been getting lots of consideration, even on Capitol Hill. What do girls have to know?
AUBREY: Yeah, should you missed it, the actor Halle Berry visited the Capitol on Thursday, pushing for extra analysis and training on menopause. Whereas there, she sort of screamed out, I am in menopause, OK? – throughout a press convention, as in, , look. It is nothing to be ashamed of. Let’s speak about it. What girls have to learn about menopause hormone remedy is that it is protected when began earlier than the age of 60.
And to elucidate this, let me again up slightly. Loads of girls stopped taking hormone remedy about 22 years in the past when a really giant examine known as the Girls’s Well being Initiative discovered that girls taking Prempro, a kind of hormone remedy, elevated the danger of breast most cancers and strokes. Now, when researchers documented this, the trial was halted, and prescriptions plummeted.
RASCOE: So what has modified since then?
AUBREY: Nicely, over the past 20 years, safer options have been launched utilizing various kinds of hormones and decrease doses. And the brand new assessment printed within the medical journal JAMA finds girls beneath the age of 60 can profit from hormone remedy. I spoke to the examine creator, Dr. JoAnn Manson. She’s chief of preventive medication at Brigham and Girls’s Hospital.
JOANN MANSON: Menopausal hormone remedy has low danger of hostile occasions and can be protected for treating bothersome sizzling flashes, evening sweats and different menopausal signs.
AUBREY: Now, menopause specialists say there isn’t any one dimension matches all. There’s a number of choices out there. And girls who wish to strive ought to sometimes begin the remedy between the ages of fifty and 60.
RASCOE: That is NPR’s well being correspondent Allison Aubrey. Thanks a lot.
AUBREY: Thanks. Nice to be right here.
(SOUNDBITE OF SADE’S “SIEMPRE HAY ESPERANZA”)
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