Deciding If Older Women Need to Keep Having Routine Mammograms

Screening mammography reduces breast cancer mortality in women aged 50 to 69, but the effectiveness of screening women after age 70 is uncertain. Investigators used Medicare data to emulate a trial in which women (age range, 70–84; estimated life expectancy, ≥10 years) who had a screening mammogram between 2000 and 2008 were randomized to continue or discontinue annual screening.

Among women aged 70 to 74 who continued screening compared with those who did not, the estimated difference in 8-year breast cancer mortality was 1 less death per 1000 women (hazard ratio, 0.8; 95% confidence interval, 0.6–0.9). Among women aged 75 to 84, breast cancer mortality was the same in both groups (HR, 1.0; 95% CI, 0.8–1.2).