I haven't heard this much talk about boobs since Breast Cancer Awareness month!

"The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) now recommends that women at average risk start mammograms at age 50, and get them every other year." I, along with many others, am concerned by this new recommendation. Is the government misunderstanding what women really need? Shouldn't we start mammograms at 40?

Christina Applegate's public battle with breast cancer scared the beejezus out of me last year. She's only a few years older than me! Even tempered by the fact that breast cancer runs in her family, it's still scary. Applegate isn't even 40, which is where the previous guideline was set at for first mammograms.

My friend WhyMommy summed up the decision nicely:

The findings are based, in part, on a finding from a meta-review of studies by the Oregon University Health Sciences Center showing that mammography reduced deaths from breast cancer by about 15% in women ages 40-49. This data was put into a set of models that then predict that, if women postpone their first mammogram to age 50, only 3% more would die. The study authors then weighed this risk of death versus the harms, identified in the study as "false-positive mammograms, unnecessary biopsies, and overdiagnosis," and concluded that "the benefits of screening from ages 40 to 49 years were small."

So, mammograms help save lives. Just not enough lives.

Seriously?

She's a real rocket scientist, so I know she knows the science behind the decision. But science doesn't prevail when we are facing life and death decisions. Our emotions get the better of us right? We're women! Except that we're smart women who know that public health is all about herd immunity and looking at a bigger picture than just our BFF who is still a shoulder to cry on because of her early detection via mammogram.

But there are questions about the study that WhyMommy brings up. How was this calculated? Is the method of taking a median of a bunch of studies good enough when it comes to our lives? Will the new recommendations take into account the racial differences in how breast cancer develops?

The American Cancer Society isn't happy with the recommendations either. They correctly point out that mammograms (in fact almost any medical intervention) has risks and we as individuals along with our medical team must weigh those risks and act accordingly.

The big question that women have today is whether these new recommendations will mean a red light on any insurance covered mammograms before 50. What about low-income women who rely on government insurance plans? Will they be covered?

A lot rides on how this recommendation is implemented in our current health care system and in any type of health insurance reform we get out of the Congress. What do you think of these new mammogram recommendations? Do they have you worried?