A new study from Sweden is stirring fresh debate over whether women in their 40s should get mammograms. It suggests that the breast cancer screening test can lower the risk of dying of the disease by as much as 26 percent.
The benefit is much greater than has been seen in earlier research. Other studies led a U.S. science panel to recommend against routine screening for women in their 40s. The panel says women under 50 should discuss their individual situations with their doctors.
The study compared breast cancer deaths in areas of Sweden that offered mammograms to younger women and areas that did not. Results were released in a telephone news briefing Wednesday and published online by the journal Cancer.
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