A national advisory panel significantly lowered the age recommendations for screening mammography, saying that all women should start breast cancer screening at age 40, rather than 50, and continue every other year until age 74.

The previous recommendations from the panel, the United States Preventive Services Task Force, suggested that women make an individual choice on getting mammography from ages 40 to 49.

The new guidelines are propelled in part by concern over rising rates of breast cancer among younger women.

More women in their 40s are developing breast cancer. That’s been 2% per year increase from 2015 to 2019, which means screening provides more benefit because the risk of developing breast cancer is higher.

To breast cancer experts, the bottom line is that organizations that issue screening guidelines are coming to a consensus that starting breast cancer earlier than 50 is reasonable and hopefully will lead to less confusion among women about breast cancer screening. The scientific evidence is clear mammography saves lives.

These recommendations are typically for the “average risk” person. Specifically, that’s people assigned female at birth starting at the the age of 40 who don’t have very high-risk mutations like BRCA 1 or 2, who don’t have a past history of cancer, or who have had a past biopsy or lesion that showed high risk. But even among the group intended for screening recommendations, everyone’s individual risk for cancer can still be variable.