Health
Breast cancer mammogram screenings should start at age 40 instead of 50, says health task force
Women should get mammograms every other year starting at age 40, according to updated recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).
This is a significant change from previous guidelines, which said women should begin biennial mammograms at age 50, but could opt to begin as young as 40.
The task force also noted that there is not sufficient evidence to “assess the balance of benefits and harms” of additional breast cancer screenings — including ultrasounds and MRIs — for women with dense breast tissue who have had an otherwise negative screening mammogram.
SOME BREAST CANCER PATIENTS COULD BE AT RISK OF ANOTHER TYPE OF CANCER, STUDY REVEALS
The USPSTF previously released these recommendations in draft form in May 2023.
Tuesday’s announcement makes the guidance official.
Women should get mammograms every other year starting at age 40, according to updated recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. (iStock)
Other medical groups have already been recommending mammograms starting at younger ages.
The American College of Radiology recommends starting annual screenings at age 40 for women of average risk, with earlier screenings for high-risk patients.
The American Cancer Society states that women between 40 and 44 have the option to get annual mammograms, and officially recommends that women between 45 and 54 get them every year.
ICE THERAPY SHOWN TO KILL BREAST CANCER TUMORS IN NEW STUDY: ‘IMPORTANT TECHNIQUE’
The updated guidance is in response to cancer rates rising among young people and breast cancer rates rising in particular, experts say.
Between 1990 and 2019, cancer rates among people 50 and younger have risen by 79%, according to research published in BMJ Oncology.
The previous guidance stated women should begin biennial mammograms at age 50, but could opt to begin as young as 40. (iStock)
Cancer rates for people under 50 are projected to rise by 31% by the year 2030, data shows.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, according to the American Cancer Society, with rates rising 2% each year since 2015.
AN OVERVIEW OF BREAST CANCER, SYMPTOMS TO LOOK OUT FOR, WHEN TO START THINKING ABOUT ROUTINE SCREENINGS
One in eight women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, and each woman has a one in 40 chance of dying from the disease.
The earlier screening recommendation could save 19% more lives, the USPSTS stated.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, according to the American Cancer Society. (iStock)
Reactions to the recommendation
Dr. Michelle Specht, a breast surgeon and co-director of the Avon Comprehensive Breast Evaluation Center at Mass General Cancer Center, said she is “thrilled” that the USPSTF has finalized its recommendations for earlier screenings.
“We have seen a rise in the incidence of breast cancer in women in their 40s over the last eight years and know that starting mammography at 40 will allow us to detect cancers at a smaller size and earlier stage,” she told Fox News Digital.
“Early detection not only leads to improved survival, but an improved quality of life. As a surgeon, I am able to do smaller surgeries — and my medical oncology colleagues can deescalate treatment — when cancers are detected early.”
One in eight women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, and each woman has a one in 40 chance of dying from the disease. (iStock)
Dr. Karen Knudsen, CEO of the American Cancer Society in Virginia, said in a statement the decision is a “critical change concerning women’s health and the fight against breast cancer,” and that it sends “a strong message to referring physicians and women that breast cancer screening should begin earlier than age 50.”
“Mammography screening is the cornerstone of our strategy to find this potentially deadly disease early, when it’s easier to treat successfully,” she said in the statement.
“Mammography screening is the cornerstone of our strategy to find this potentially deadly disease early, when it’s easier to treat successfully,” said the CEO of the American Cancer Society. (iStock)
“We are encouraged that among the reasons for the USPSTF changes in their breast cancer screening recommendations include eliminating health disparities, especially among Black women, who are 40% more likely to die of breast cancer compared with White women and have a higher risk of aggressive breast cancers at all ages,” Knudsen added.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER
Dr. Nancy Chan, a medical oncologist at NYU Langone Perlmutter Cancer Center, shared her reaction to the updated guidelines.
“No significant difference was found in different screening methods, i.e., DBT (digital breast tomosynthesis) versus digital mammogram,” she told Fox News Digital.
“In patients with dense breast tissue, the addition of MRI may reduce cancer risk and false positive recalls.”
If a woman has a family history of breast cancer, she should meet with her doctor to have a breast cancer risk analysis performed, a doctor said. (iStock)
In clinical practice, Chan said the majority of patients undergo annual screenings with mammograms, instead of once every two years.
“Practically, in the urban setting, most patients are already and will continue to have screening with mammogram with tomosynthesis (3D mammography),” she added.
“Each patient must consider the best screening method for their individual cancer risk, such as breast density and family history.”
If a woman has a family history of breast cancer, she should meet with her doctor to have a breast cancer risk analysis performed, Specht said.
“This risk analysis will allow their physician to tailor breast cancer screening,” she noted.
“A woman at high risk of developing breast cancer may begin prior to 40 and may do both mammograms every year, [along with] supplemental screening, such as a breast MRI.”
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Colorectal cancer, once considered a disease of older age, is becoming a crisis for younger adults. New research shows one group getting hit the hardest – those without a college degree.
A recent study from the American Cancer Society analyzed data from over 101,000 adults aged 25 to 49 who died from colorectal cancer between 1994 and 2023.
While death rates remained stable for college graduates, they climbed significantly for those without a bachelor’s degree, the findings showed.
WIDESPREAD HABIT MAY RAISE COLORECTAL CANCER RISK MORE THAN YOU THINK
For young adults with a high school education or less, the mortality rate rose from 4.0 to 5.2 per 100,000 people, while the rate for those with at least a bachelor’s degree stayed flat, at approximately 2.7 per 100,000.
This does not mean that a degree offers some kind of biological protection, researchers cautioned.
Colorectal cancer, once considered a disease of older age, is becoming a crisis for younger adults. (iStock)
The difference is likely driven by the conditions in which people live and work, which often correlate with education levels, the researchers noted.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER
The study suggests that the higher death rates are likely driven by differences in the prevalence of risk factors, including obesity, physical inactivity, smoking and diet, which are “known to be elevated among children and young adults with lower [socioeconomic status].”
Because the study relied on death certificates, researchers couldn’t say exactly why college graduates had better outcomes.
Because the researchers didn’t have the patients’ actual medical records, they couldn’t see things like frequency of screenings or treatment options, which would impact survival outcomes. (iStock)
Certificates typically list the cause of death, age, race and education level, but they do not include a person’s full medical history.
RED FLAGS FOR COLORECTAL CANCER THAT WARRANT SCREENINGS BEFORE 45 YEARS OF AGE
Because the researchers didn’t have the patients’ actual medical records, they couldn’t see things like frequency of screenings or treatment options, which would impact survival outcomes.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES
Colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death for men under 50 and the second leading cause for women in the same age group, according to recent statistics.
While colorectal cancer death rates remained stable for college graduates, they climbed significantly for those without a bachelor’s degree, the findings showed. (iStock)
Because the disease is highly treatable when caught early, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) lowered the recommended screening age from 50 to 45 in 2021.
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
Common signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer can include a change in bowel habits, such as diarrhea, constipation or narrowing of the stool, that lasts for more than a few days, according to the American Cancer Society.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Other signs that warrant seeing a doctor include blood in the stool or a persistent feeling of needing to go to the bathroom but being unable to go.
The research was published in JAMA Oncology.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A young woman who started vaping at the age of 15 has been given just 18 months to live — after being diagnosed with lung cancer in her early 20s.
Kayley Boda, 22, of Manchester, in the United Kingdom, was engaging in heavy vaping on a regular basis when she started coughing up a brown substance with “grainy bits” in it in January 2025, news agency SWNS reported.
The retail assistant said doctors turned her away eight times, telling her she had a chest infection — until she began coughing up blood.
SMOKING AND VAPING MAY BE BANNED AT ONE STATE’S MOST POPULAR BEACHES AND PARKS: HERE’S WHY
After seven biopsies, Boda was diagnosed with lung cancer. She underwent surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy — and in February 2026, got the all-clear, the same source reported.
Two months later, though, doctors said the cancer had come back in the pleural lining. Now she’s been given 18 months to live.
Kayley Boda, 22, is shown in the hospital. She started coughing up a brown substance with “grainy bits” in January 2025, she said. She had been vaping since the age of 15. (SWNS)
The young woman has now issued a warning to others to be aware of the dangers of vaping.
Boda said she smoked a bit as a young teenager. She took up vaping after that.
Then, “a few months after I switched from reusable vapes to disposable ones, I started coughing up brown, grainy mucus,” as SWNS reported.
TOURISTS MAY FACE STEEP FINES AND JAIL TIME FOR VAPES AT THIS VACATION HOT SPOT
“Doctors turned me away eight times with a chest infection. … Then I started coughing up blood, so they did an X-ray and found a shadow on my lung,” she added.
“They told me they were 99% sure, [since I was] so young, that it wasn’t cancer, so not to worry about it. When I got the results back, and they told me it was lung cancer, it felt so surreal.”
Boda said she was “very naive” before her diagnosis and thought that “something like this would never happen to me.”
She said that she had surgery to remove half of her right lung.
“After the surgery, I started chemo and I had a terrible reaction to it. I couldn’t lift my head up. I was throwing up blood. I was urinating blood. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep.”
VACATION HOT SPOT CRACKS DOWN ON VAPING WITH JAIL THREATS AND HEFTY FINES
She said that when she got the “all clear [in Feb. 2026], it felt amazing, but just two months later I was told the cancer had come back, and I have 18 months to live.”
She added, “I’m 22. This isn’t meant to happen to somebody my age.”
“Stay off the vapes because they will catch up with you.”
She blames her cancer on vaping, she said.
“My symptoms started a few months after I started disposable vapes, and there’s no lung cancer in my family,” she said. “I haven’t vaped for three months, I’ve made my partner stop, I’ve made my mom stop, I’m urging all my friends to stop. Stay off the vapes,” she continued, “because they will catch up with you.”
When doctors did an X-ray, they found a shadow on Boda’s right lung. She was later diagnosed with lung cancer and has undergone surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy. (SWNS)
She said she’d been using reusable vapes since the age of 15 and began using disposable vapes a few months before her cancer symptoms started.
DISPOSABLE VAPES MORE TOXIC AND CARCINOGENIC THAN CIGARETTES, STUDY SHOWS
In November 2024, when she developed a rash all over her body, doctors said it could have been due to shingles, chicken pox or scabies, she told SWNS.
‘Nothing worked’
“I got treated for all three, and nothing worked,” Boda said. “It got to the point where I was cutting myself from scratching so hard.”
A few months after that, she began coughing up a dark brown mucus, with “grainy bits, the consistency of sugar, in it,” she said. When the coughing continued, she visited the doctor’s office, but was told it could be scarring from pneumonia or a chest infection, she also said.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER
It wasn’t until March 2025 that she began coughing up bright red blood. At that point, doctors gave her a chest X-ray and told her they’d found a shadow on her lower right lung.
Over the next four months, she had seven biopsies as doctors took samples from the “shadow.” In August, when she went to get the results, she was told she had stage one lung cancer.
Boda is shown in the hospital. She was diagnosed with lung cancer and had surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy. (SWNS)
In September 2025, she had surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, and the surrounding lymph nodes. During the surgery, doctors upstaged her cancer from stage one to stage three after finding cancer in six surrounding lymph nodes, she said.
Following the surgery, Boda was unable to breathe properly and had to learn to walk all over again.
“The oncologist said this is so rare.”
After finishing chemotherapy in February 2026, Kayley was given the all clear, leaving her feeling elated.
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
However, just a month after that, she began experiencing extreme chest pains and was told by doctors she had a pleural effusion — a build-up of fluid in the lungs. She had the fluid removed, but when doctors tested it, they discovered her cancer had returned to the pleural lining of her lungs, giving her 18 months to live.
“The oncologist said this is so rare, and usually something they see in patients that are 80 years old,” she said, as SWNS reported.
Increasingly, vacation hot spots are enforcing strict bans on the use of e-cigarettes in public venues. (iStock)
Boda claimed that doctors were unable to pin her cancer to a specific cause — but told her that smoking and vaping definitely didn’t help.
Since her diagnosis, she has stopped and is urging others to stop, too.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
She’s hoping to raise the thousands of dollars needed for treatment to try to prolong her life, she said.
Last year, Fox News Digital reported on the case of a Pennsylvania woman, 26, who said she vaped for just one year before her lungs collapsed. She was 22 when she took up the habit, she said in an interview.
“Everybody warned me about it, but I didn’t listen — I wish that I did,” she said.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH ARTICLES
Dr. David Campbell, clinical director and program director at Recover Together Bend in Oregon, told Fox News Digital at that time that signs of collapsed lungs include sharp chest or shoulder pain, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
Lung issues are just one of the many health issues linked to vaping, he warned. The habit can also increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, as well as exposure to harmful heavy metals.
Melissa Rudy of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The key to feeling better in a fast, overstimulated world might be surprisingly simple: Live a little more like your grandparents.
A growing social media trend, dubbed “nonnamaxxing,” draws inspiration from the slower, more intentional rhythms associated with an Italian grandmother.
The lifestyle is often linked to activities like preparing home-cooked meals, spending time outdoors and making meaningful connections.
MARTHA STEWART SHARES 7 TIPS FOR AGING WELL: ‘LOOK GOOD, FEEL GOOD, BE GOOD’
“Nonnamaxxing is a 2026 trend that embraces the slower, more intentional lifestyle of an Italian grandmother (a Nonna). Think cooking from scratch, long family meals, daily walks, gardening and less screen time,” Erin Palinski-Wade, a New Jersey-based registered dietitian, told Fox News Digital.
Nonnamaxxing, derived from the name for an Italian grandmother, is a trend that incorporates lifestyle habits hundreds of years in the making. (iStock)
Stepping away from screens and toward real-world interaction can have measurable benefits, according to California-based psychotherapist Laurie Singer.
“We know that interacting with others in person, rather than spending time on screens, significantly improves mental health,” she told Fox News Digital, adding that social media often fuels comparison and lowers self-esteem.
LONELINESS MAY BE SILENTLY ERODING YOUR MEMORY, NEW RESEARCH REVEALS
Living more like previous generations isn’t purely driven by nostalgia. Cooking meals from scratch, for example, has been linked to better nutrition and more mindful eating patterns.
Adopting traditional mealtime habits can improve diet quality and support both physical and mental health, especially when meals are shared regularly with others, Palinski-Wade noted.
One longevity expert stresses that staying healthy isn’t just about food — it’s also about joy and community. (iStock)
There’s also a psychological benefit to slowing down and focusing on one task at a time. Anxiety often stems from unfinished or avoided tasks, Singer noted, and engaging in hands-on activities can counteract that.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER
“Nonnamaxxing encourages us to be present around a task, like gardening, baking or knitting, or just taking a mindful walk, that delivers something ‘real,’” she said.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES
Palinski-Wade cautions against turning the trend into another source of pressure, noting that a traditional “nonna” lifestyle often assumes a different pace of life.
The key, she said, is adapting the mindset, not replicating it perfectly.
Nonnamaxxing, derived from the name for an Italian grandmother, is a trend that incorporates lifestyle habits hundreds of years in the making. (iStock)
The goal is to reintroduce small, intentional moments that make you feel better.
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
That might mean prioritizing a few shared meals each week, taking a walk without your phone or setting aside time for a simple hobby, the expert recommended.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Singer added, “Having a positive place to escape to, through whatever activities speak to us and make us happy, isn’t generational – it’s human.”
-
Rhode Island4 minutes agoNothing Bundt Cakes opens first RI bakery
-
South-Carolina10 minutes agoSLED issues Blue Alert for armed, dangerous woman in Midlands
-
South Dakota16 minutes ago
SD Lottery Powerball, Lotto America winning numbers for April 20, 2026
-
Tennessee22 minutes agoTennessee Senate passes ‘CVS bill,’ reshapes pharmacy business as CVS threatens closures
-
Texas28 minutes agoFitness influencer drowns during swimming portion of Ironman Texas
-
Utah34 minutes agoUtah Jazz win coin flip, guaranteed to keep NBA Draft Lottery pick
-
Vermont40 minutes ago
VT Lottery Powerball, Gimme 5 results for April 20, 2026
-
Virginia46 minutes agoVirginia voters to vote on measure that could determine control of Congress