Age recommendations for when women should start yearly mammograms to screen for breast cancer vary. However, Mayo Clinic health care professionals have been firm for more than a decade that women should start breast cancer screening at age 40. Starting mammograms early is especially important for non-Hispanic Black women, who have higher rates of breast cancer compared to non-Hispanic white women.
In this Mayo Clinic Minute, Dr. Sandhya Pruthi, with Mayo Clinic's Breast Diagnostic Clinic and Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, explains why Black women are at higher risk and should start screening for breast cancer earlier.
"For years now we've known Black women tend to die of breast cancer 40% more often than white women. They also tend to have more aggressive cancers, known as triple-negative breast cancers," says Dr. Pruthi.
