The Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) has thrown its support behind new and tighter guidelines for clinical practice, including government healthcare cover for the mammogram, which screens for breast cancer.

Although Minister of Health Jeanne Atherden has stressed that patients at risk of breast cancer will be covered for regular mammograms, the new guidelines have alarmed many with a shift away from early detection.

Proponents argue that overly rigorous screening detects conditions that pose little risk.

Mammograms are at present covered annually after the age of 40 but coverage under the new legislation would start at the age of 50.

Michael Weitekamp, chief of staff for the Bermuda Hospitals Board, yesterday issued a statement in support of the guidelines, adopted from the United States.

The guidelines, he said, are based on evidence from “voluminous research involving many hundreds of thousands of women from multiple countries and sponsored by neutral public authorities”.

Dr Weitekamp also said the guidelines would not obstruct the decisions of women and their physicians. Patients will be covered for mammograms before the age of 50 if their physicians refer them.

Women or men showing symptoms would be screened regardless of age, he said.

Dr Weitekamp also said the practice of screening every two years from the age of 50 was similar to Canada, Australia and Britain.

“We all want to do the best we can to catch cancer earlier, when it is often more treatable. This can make us fearful and want screening earlier,” Dr Weitekamp said.

Annual screening from the age of 40 did not eliminate risk, he added.

“Some women with very high risks should be screened earlier, and even the most frequent screening programmes do not catch all breast cancers.

“National screening guidelines, therefore, must rely on the best data and research; this tells us that there is no one size fits all solution, and that risk factors or symptoms should drive decisions for early testing.”

The tests were said by the minister to account for nearly one third of the total cost for diagnostic testing on the Island.