Dr. McKerlie was quoting our study, which has just been accepted for publication.
In Canada, all women except white women have their peak diagnosis of breast cancer under the age of 50. White women have their peak age of diagnosis at 60. In those old, randomized controlled trials that I mentioned, 98% of the women were white. Women who are not white are more likely to get breast cancer under the age of 50. This is the biggest reason the U.S. lowered the screening age to 40.
In Canada, if we remove the barrier of age 50 and allow women to self-refer at age 40 and older, we will allow women of all races and ethnicities to participate in screening if they choose to screen. Right now, we only allow that for women 50 years and older.
This is absolutely discriminating against non-white women, and it is why we're seeing that non-white women are three times more likely to be diagnosed with advanced stage breast cancer in Canada than white women. It's so critical that we address this inequity. Simply lowering the screening age to 40 will allow us to remove that major barrier, because a lot of these women don't have a family physician and cannot get a referral to get a screening mammogram even if they are allowed to.