• cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 months ago

    That’s just not generally true. Mammograms are usually only recommended to women over 40. That’s because the rates of breast cancer in women under 40 are low enough that testing them would cause more harm than good thanks in part to the problem of false positives.

    • CptOblivius@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      3 months ago

      Nearly 4 out of 5 that progress to biopsy are benign. Nearly 4 times that are called for additional evaluation. The false positives are quite high compared to other imaging. It is designed that way, to decrease the chances of a false negative.