BC-CANCER-BREAST/MAMMOGRAMS (FACTBOX)

FACTBOX-Breast cancer screening policies in Europe and U.S.

April 7 (Reuters) - Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide, accounting for around 16 percent of all female cancers. It kills around 519,000 people around the world each year.

Although experts are engaged in an acrimonious row over the balance of risks and benefits of routine screening, most wealthy nations currently have policies for regular mammograms after the age 40 or 50 to try to find tumours when they are small and more easily cured.

Here are some details of breast cancer screening guidelines in various developed countries:

UNITED STATES

-- Revised U.S. breast cancer guidelines released Nov. 16 by an influential advisory panel, the U.S. Preventive Services task force, recommended against routine mammograms for women in their 40s with an average risk of breast cancer -- a change the American Cancer Society and many other breast cancer experts rejected. -- The new proposed guidelines suggested women over 50 get a routine scan every other year instead of every year.

ENGLAND:

-- Women are invited for screening between the ages of 50 and 70 and offered mammograms every three years.

-- The government has proposed extending the offer of breast screening to women aged between 47 and 73 by 2012. As a result, around 400,000 more women will be screened each year.

AUSTRIA:

-- Every two years for women aged 40 years and over.

ITALY:

-- Most programmes invite women in the 50-69 age range. In 2007 around 2.2 million were invited for screening of whom over 1.2 million were screened.

CZECH REPUBLIC:

-- Every two years from age 50 to 69.

DENMARK:

-- Every two years from age 50 to 69.

FINLAND:

-- Every two years from age 50 to 69.

FRANCE:

-- Every two years from age 50 to 74.

NETHERLANDS:

-- Every two years from age 50 to 75.

Sources: Reuters/NHS/http://win.osservatorionazionalescreening.it/ http://www.ecosante.fr/OCDEFRA/311010.html

REUTERS