Description: Update of the 2002 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendation statement on testing for breast cancer in the overall population.

Processes: The USPSTF analyzed the evidence on the efficaciousness of five screening modalities in subduing fatality rate from breast cancer: film mammography, clinical breast exam, breast self-examination, digital mammography, and magnetic resonance imaging in order to update the 2002 recommendation. To achieve this update, the USPSTF authorised 2 reports: 1) a targeted orderly evidence reexamination of 6 chosen inquiries referring to benefits and damages of screening, and 2) a decision analysis that applied population modeling methods to equate the anticipated health results and resource demands of initiating and terminating mammography screening at various ages and employing yearly versus biyearly screening intervals.

Recommendations: The USPSTF advocates against regular screening mammography in women aged 40 to 49 years. The determination to begin orderly, biennial testing mammography prior to the age of 50 years should be a case-by-case one and take into account patient circumstance, including the patient’s values concerning particular benefits and harms. (Grade C recommendation)

The USPSTF recommends biennial screening mammography for women between the ages of 50 and 74 years. (Grade B recommendation)

The USPSTF resolves that the present-day evidence is inadequate to measure the supplementary benefits and harms of screening mammography in women 75 years or older. (I statement)

The USPSTF reasons that the prevailing evidence is inadequate to evaluate the extra benefits and damages of nonsubjective breast testing beyond testing mammography in women 40 years or older. (I statement)

The USPSTF advocates against clinicians instructing women how to execute breast self-examination. (Grade D recommendation)

The USPSTF concludes that the contemporary evidence is insufficient to evaluate further benefits and harms of either digital mammography or magnetic resonance imaging rather than film mammography as screening modes for breast cancer. (I statement)