The new U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines, published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine have been met with a loud outcry from cancer-advocacy groups, medical professionals, and women across the country. The new guidelines state that routine mammograms aren’t necessary for women of average cancer risk in their 40s, and that women between 50 and 74 years old don’t need to undergo mammograms more often than every other year. This is a completely different message that the American Cancer Society has been spreading for the past two decades, recommending annual mammograms beginning at 40 (a recommendation they reiterated yesterday).
While U.S. Preventive Services Task Force argues that the old recommendation of earlier and more frequent screenings lead to false alarms and unneeded biopsies without substantially improving women’s odds of survival, you can’t deny the fact that this is a very sensitive issue to people everywhere—including those whose loved ones’ lives were saved by early detection.
If I think about all of the sweat, tears, and money that have been put into breast cancer awareness, I can’t help but side with those who are frustrated by the implications of these new guidelines. How can breast cancer advocacy groups not think of these new guidelines as a setback to their mission when one in eight women is diagnosed with breast cancer every year?
Before this week, I would argue that breast cancer awareness has some of the best PR out there with October officially being “Breast Cancer Awareness Month” and the ubiquity of pink ribbons. The money and awareness raised through the cause-related marketing of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Avon, Estee Lauder, and Yoplait is staggering with Susan G. Komen for the Cure alone having raised $1.3 billion since 1982. Despite how far they have come with spreading the word about early detection, this study has the potential to reverse that.
That said, the release of this study certainly has people talking regardless of their opinion of the guidelines. This is a good thing and certainly contributes to the mission of hope surrounding this deadly disease.
