Health approves expanding breast cancer screenings to women between 45 and 74 years old

The Public Health Commission has approved the expansion of breast cancer screening to women between 45 and 74 years of age. Until now, screenings were carried out on women between 50 and 70 years old. In this way, the age groups between 45 and 49 years and between 70 and 74 will now be added. However, the implementation will not be immediate: communities will have up to six years to achieve near 100% coverage in the new age groups. The measure will require an investment of 534 million euros between 2025 and 2029.

The approved expansion of screenings responds to the recommendations of the Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment and the Council of the European Union, as well as to the available clinical evidence, which indicates that around 10% of breast cancers in Spain are diagnosed in women under 50 years of age.

Test every two years

The new proposal maintains a screening periodicity of every two years for the entire new age range, as already stipulated for women who were already within the control range. Although the Public Health Commission gave the green light to the measure this Wednesday, there are some communities such as Navarra, Castilla y León, La Rioja, and Castilla-La Mancha that had already incorporated the range of 45 to 49 years into their early detection programs for breast cancer in women. Furthermore, Galicia has already provided results from the 70 to 74 year old group.

Now, all communities will have up to three years to initiate the modification of their program, and up to six to achieve close to 100% coverage. The option of initially implementing a three-year screening interval before definitively consolidating the biennial periodicity is contemplated.