New research suggests a fresh approach to screening for breast cancer that focuses on race and ethnicity could be needed.

The data comes from a study from the JAMA Network. The findings show Black women may need breast cancer screenings earlier than any other demographic.

“Maybe our guidelines we’ve had in the past are not equitable for all women,” said Dr. Ada Emarievbe, an OBGYN with Kaiser Permanente in Virginia.

The study showed Black women had the highest mortality rate and died from the disease earlier than average, when compared to other women who passed away from breast cancer from 2011 to 2020.

Emarievbe said this could be due to various factors, including environmental conditions and physical factors such as breast density.

“We found that the mortality rate for Black women in their 40s was much higher,” she said.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said all women should be screened around age 50. But Emarievbe said the medical community is realizing the age at which women should first get screened could vary among people.

“For women of color, eight years prior to the recommended age,” she said.

Emarievbe said long-standing norms are giving way to new thinking, which could save more lives in the long run. Studies such as this one are key, she said, to answering the question: “How can we be equitable to individualize screenings based on race?”

The JAMA study suggested Black women be screened earliest at age 42, while white and Hispanic women can wait until their 50s (around age 51 for white women and 57 for Hispanic and Native American women). Asian or Pacific Islander women can wait the longest to screen, until age 61.

But Emarievbe pointed out these are suggestions for people with little to no history of the illness and said anyone with a family history of breast cancer, or a precondition that increases their risk of developing the disease, should re-evaluate based on their individual need.

“That’s a completely different conversation you need to have with your doctor,” she said.