Help! Stress Is Messing Up My Sex Drive

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Q: Some nights, I’m just too stressed to have sex. Is it wrong to say no?

It’s totally normal to not want to have sex when you’re really wound up. Stress is a deterrent for a lot of women—it’s difficult to get into a sexual state of mind when you’re freaking out about, say, your workload at the office. The best thing to do is talk about what’s bothering you with your partner—outside the bedroom. Tell him something along the lines of “I’m feeling stressed this weekend, and sometimes that squashes my sex drive. It has nothing to do with you.”

RELATED: 29 Days to a Happier Relationship

A little discussion can go a long way toward making your mate still feel wanted. If he leans over and starts giving you a neck rub or is otherwise empathetic, it might even put you in the mood! There’s an aspect to sex that’s nurturing, and often a simple “What can I do to help?” can spark a desire to be with him in a more physical way. Of course, orgasms are a known stress reliever—thank all that oxytocin. And remember that if you always wait to be in the perfect mood, you may never have sex.

RELATED: 7 Foods for Better Sex

Gail Saltz, MD, is a psychiatrist and television commentator in New York City who specializes in health, sex, and relationships.

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The Big Benefits of Losing Just a Little Bit of Weight

In a statement that will surprise zero people: Losing weight is tough. And sometimes starting is the hardest, no matter if you’re looking to lose only five to 10 pounds, or if you’re embarking on the first five pounds in a 50-pound journey.

We’ve got happy news for all you would-be losers: Shedding just five percent of your body weight does a lot. It’s enough to decrease total body fat, visceral fat (the dangerous kind that hugs your organs), and liver fat. Plus, that small tip of the scale can also lower your blood pressure and improve your insulin sensitivity, reports a new study in the journal Cell Metabolism. All together this can also mean a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, study authors say.

“Our results show that you get a large ‘bang for your buck’ with a five percent weight loss. But an additional 10 to 15 percent weight loss continues to cause even more improvements in measures like blood lipids and blood pressure,” says study co-author Samuel Klein, MD, director at the Center for Human Nutrition at Washington University School of Medicine.

So for those times you might be frustrated (maybe you’re down four pounds instead of the 40 pounds you were hoping for), remember this: Meaningful change takes time. Be sure to keep your non-scale victories in sight, and consider all the ways your small improvements have already done your body good. Here, five more reasons to be proud of every pound lost.

RELATED: 19 Reasons to Work Out (Beyond the Perfect Body)

5 Big Benefits of Even a Small Weight Loss

1. Strengthening Your Ticker
High blood cholesterol levels cause the fat-like substance to stick to the insides of your arteries, increasing heart attack risk. Luckily, a modest weight drop can get you out of the danger zone. Overweight and obese women who lost weight over two years decreased their total cholesterol scores, “regardless of the amount of weight lost,” according to a 2013 study in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Drop as little as 10 percent of your body weight and you might also benefit from lower “bad” LDL cholesterol, insulin and triglycerides (another type of fat in your blood that ups heart disease risk).

2. Living Better
You don’t have to reach your goal weight to be happy. In fact, in a 2009 study on 900 weight loss patients, those who shed five to 10 percent of their body weight scored higher on measures of physical function and self-esteem. The researchers point out that just knowing that losing a bit is helping in these areas can keep you motivated to lose more, even when times get tough. There’s other evidence suggesting you’ll also benefit from more energy and vitality. Translation: You just feel great.

RELATED: 12 Things Nobody Told Me About Losing Weight

3. Improving Your Mood
According to a preliminary study from the University of Pennsylvania, when obese adults shed five percent of their body weight, they reported better sleep and improved moods within six months. The more sunshine-y ‘tude might not come from the weight loss itself (other studies indicate that the restriction of dieting can be a drag on your psyche), but the fact that they logged 21.6 more minutes of sleep per night versus just 1.2 minutes in a control group. Adequate sleep keeps frustration and irritability at bay, and better sleep also helps regulate your appetite, possibly helping you lose more weight. We call that a win-win.

4. Warding Off Inflammation
Inflammation is a big buzzword these days, and for good reason. While acute, short-term inflammation is a good thing (it’s your body’s way of responding to things like injuries), having low-grade chronic inflammation (the kind that sticks around long-term) can increase your risk for disease, like heart disease, stroke, and metabolic syndrome. It’s not a lost battle, though. One study published in Nutrition Research put obese people (most were in their 20s and none had diabetes) on a diet and exercise program for 12 weeks. On average, they lost six pounds, but that was enough to decrease inflammation and enhance immune function, likely because it drives down the release of proinflammatory proteins stored in fat, the study authors concluded.

RELATED: Daily Burn 365: New Workouts, 7 Days a Week

5. Keeping Joints Squeaky Clean
You might not think much about it now, but trust us, you want healthy joints as you age. (You do want to feel comfortable walking up the stairs for decades to come, right?) Excess weight can put more wear and tear on knee cartilage, leading to a painful condition called osteoarthritis. If you’re overweight, research shows that losing 11 pounds can decrease your likelihood of OA by more than 50 percent. Here’s to signing up for 5Ks well into your older years.

More from Daily Burn:

Low-Calorie Foods That Will Actually Fill You Up

The 5 Best Ways to Measure Body Fat Percentage

5 Healthier Ways to Detox (That Aren’t Juice Cleanses)

Life by Daily Burn is dedicated to helping you live a healthier, happier and more active lifestyle. Whether your goal is to lose weight, gain strength or de-stress, a better you is well within reach. Get more health and fitness tips at Life by Daily Burn.

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Diabetes Steals Years, Adds Disabilities

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, April 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Adults with diabetes die earlier and suffer longer with disabilities than men and women without the blood-sugar disease, researchers are reporting.

Type 1 and type 2 diabetes will shorten the lives of 50-year-old men and women by more than three years. And only about 13 of their remaining years will be disability-free, the new study found.

“People with diabetes are spending a significant proportion of life with disability,” said lead researcher Dianna Magliano. She is head of the diabetes and population health laboratory at Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia.

Elevated blood sugar levels associated with diabetes lead to blood vessel complications that can cause vision loss, movement problems and amputations. Other disabilities not usually tied to diabetes include a decline in brain functioning, Magliano said.

“We need to undertake research to understand the mechanisms by which diabetes leads to disability,” she added. “This will then help with the development of strategies to prevent disability in diabetes, which in turn may lead to more years lived disability-free.”

The researchers estimated life expectancy and years lived with disability using data from Australian diabetes and death registries.

At age 50, a diabetic man can expect to live another 30 years, on average — about 17 of them with disability. A woman that age with diabetes will likely live about 34 years, but she will be burdened with disabilities for roughly 21 of those years, the study authors estimated.

Compared to their healthy peers, diabetic men will lose 8.2 years of living without disability and women 9.1 years, the researchers said.

Another diabetes expert who wasn’t involved in the research welcomed the study.

“The worldwide epidemic of diabetes continues, so the findings from Australia are not surprising,” said Dr. Joel Zonszein, director of the Clinical Diabetes Center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

In the United States, one-third of patients with diabetes are not even aware they have the disease, he said, and one-third who are aware of having the disease are not treated.

“The sad news is that the ones that are treated are not treated at goal, and less than half have their blood sugar controlled, and 80 to 90 percent are not treated for high blood pressure or high cholesterol,” Zonszein said.

Nonetheless, the survival and disability-free survival of patients with diabetes have improved significantly, he pointed out.

“This study is another wake-up call to revise our current practice,” Zonszein said. He noted that the United States doesn’t do enough to prevent diabetes.

“We have the tools to provide an earlier and more aggressive treatment for this common disease,” he said.

Type 2 diabetes is linked to an unhealthy lifestyle and obesity. The study did not distinguish between people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. But because type 2 is far more common, the findings mostly pertain to people with that form of the disease. However, the authors noted that because the onset of type 1 diabetes usually occurs early in life, people with type 1 may have more complications and possibly a higher risk of disability.

Prevention measures for type 2 diabetes generally include lifestyle changes, such as weight loss, exercise, a healthy diet and not smoking.

More than 400 million people worldwide have diabetes, with most nations reporting sharp increases in recent decades, due to rising rates of obesity, according to background notes in the report. And, approximately one-third of people 25 or younger are likely to eventually develop diabetes, the study authors said.

The study findings were published April 14 in the journal Diabetologia.

More information

For more on diabetes, visit the American Diabetes Association.

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Diabetes Steals Years, Adds Disabilities

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, April 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Adults with diabetes die earlier and suffer longer with disabilities than men and women without the blood-sugar disease, researchers are reporting.

Type 1 and type 2 diabetes will shorten the lives of 50-year-old men and women by more than three years. And only about 13 of their remaining years will be disability-free, the new study found.

“People with diabetes are spending a significant proportion of life with disability,” said lead researcher Dianna Magliano. She is head of the diabetes and population health laboratory at Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia.

Elevated blood sugar levels associated with diabetes lead to blood vessel complications that can cause vision loss, movement problems and amputations. Other disabilities not usually tied to diabetes include a decline in brain functioning, Magliano said.

“We need to undertake research to understand the mechanisms by which diabetes leads to disability,” she added. “This will then help with the development of strategies to prevent disability in diabetes, which in turn may lead to more years lived disability-free.”

The researchers estimated life expectancy and years lived with disability using data from Australian diabetes and death registries.

At age 50, a diabetic man can expect to live another 30 years, on average — about 17 of them with disability. A woman that age with diabetes will likely live about 34 years, but she will be burdened with disabilities for roughly 21 of those years, the study authors estimated.

Compared to their healthy peers, diabetic men will lose 8.2 years of living without disability and women 9.1 years, the researchers said.

Another diabetes expert who wasn’t involved in the research welcomed the study.

“The worldwide epidemic of diabetes continues, so the findings from Australia are not surprising,” said Dr. Joel Zonszein, director of the Clinical Diabetes Center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

In the United States, one-third of patients with diabetes are not even aware they have the disease, he said, and one-third who are aware of having the disease are not treated.

“The sad news is that the ones that are treated are not treated at goal, and less than half have their blood sugar controlled, and 80 to 90 percent are not treated for high blood pressure or high cholesterol,” Zonszein said.

Nonetheless, the survival and disability-free survival of patients with diabetes have improved significantly, he pointed out.

“This study is another wake-up call to revise our current practice,” Zonszein said. He noted that the United States doesn’t do enough to prevent diabetes.

“We have the tools to provide an earlier and more aggressive treatment for this common disease,” he said.

Type 2 diabetes is linked to an unhealthy lifestyle and obesity. The study did not distinguish between people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. But because type 2 is far more common, the findings mostly pertain to people with that form of the disease. However, the authors noted that because the onset of type 1 diabetes usually occurs early in life, people with type 1 may have more complications and possibly a higher risk of disability.

Prevention measures for type 2 diabetes generally include lifestyle changes, such as weight loss, exercise, a healthy diet and not smoking.

More than 400 million people worldwide have diabetes, with most nations reporting sharp increases in recent decades, due to rising rates of obesity, according to background notes in the report. And, approximately one-third of people 25 or younger are likely to eventually develop diabetes, the study authors said.

The study findings were published April 14 in the journal Diabetologia.

More information

For more on diabetes, visit the American Diabetes Association.

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Common Heartburn Drugs Linked to Kidney Disease in Study

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, April 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) — People who use certain drugs for chronic heartburn may be at increased risk of developing kidney disease, a new study suggests.

The research is the latest to highlight potential risks from drugs called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). PPIs include prescription and over-the-counter drugs, such as Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium.

But prolonged use of PPIs has been linked to certain nutrient deficiencies and bone-density loss. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, bone fractures are considered a safety concern when people use PPIs for a year or more.

More recently, research has hinted at additional hazards. Last year, for example, a study tied the medications to a slight increase in heart attack risk.

However, neither that study nor this new one prove that PPIs are directly to blame for these problems.

“I cannot say for certain that this is cause-and-effect,” said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, one of the researchers on the current study and a kidney specialist with the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System.

His team found that PPI users were more likely than people on other heartburn medications to develop chronic kidney disease or kidney failure over five years.

The researchers did try to rule out other possible explanations, such as PPI users being older or in poorer health. But, Al-Aly said, there could still be other factors that account for the higher kidney risk.

Despite the uncertainty, Al-Aly said the findings underscore an important point: People should use PPIs only when it’s medically necessary, and for the shortest time possible.

“I think people see these medications at the drug store and assume they’re completely safe,” Al-Aly said. “But there’s growing evidence they’re not as safe as we’ve thought.”

A doctor who specializes in treating chronic heartburn agreed.

A key problem is that many people take PPIs when they’re unnecessary, or take them for too long, said Dr. F. Paul Buckley. He is surgical director of the Heartburn & Acid Reflux Center at the Scott & White Clinic, in Round Rock, Texas.

For occasional heartburn, PPIs are not appropriate — or even helpful, Buckley said.

So, he said, people should first make sure they have true gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) — where stomach acids chronically rise up into the esophagus because of weakness in a muscle between the esophagus and stomach.

About 20 percent of Americans have been diagnosed with GERD, according to the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Heartburn is a symptom, and people who suffer heartburn more than twice a week may have GERD, the institute says.

PPIs are powerful stomach acid suppressors, Buckley said, and they do work well for people with more-severe reflux. If someone has inflammation in the esophagus or an ulcer, for instance, PPIs can allow those problems to heal, he explained.

But diet and other lifestyle changes are also vital, according to Buckley. And after a patient has used a PPI for a month or so, it’s often possible to “step down” to an H2-blocker and lifestyle changes.

When people are “severe refluxers,” and can’t drop their PPI, Buckley added, surgery to address the underlying problem might be an option.

The new study findings are based on medical records from over 173,000 VA patients who were prescribed a PPI and over 20,000 other patients prescribed another class of heartburn drug called H2-blockers. Those include brands like Zantac, Pepcid and Tagamet, which are also available over-the-counter.

Over five years, 15 percent of PPI users were diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, versus 11 percent of those on H2-blockers. After the researchers weighed other factors, PPI users still had a 28 percent greater risk.

Few study patients — less than 0.2 percent — developed end-stage kidney failure. But the odds were almost doubled among PPI users, the study found.

And, Al-Aly said, the risk increased the longer people used the medications: Patients on PPIs for one to two years had a threefold higher risk of kidney failure than those who used the drugs for a month or less.

Al-Aly said he could only speculate on how PPIs could contribute to kidney disease. But past research has linked the drugs to cases of acute kidney inflammation, he said. It’s possible, he added, that some PPI users develop cases that go undiagnosed and eventually lead to chronic kidney disease.

Deficiency in the mineral magnesium could also play a role, according to Al-Aly. Because PPIs block stomach acids, they can lower the body’s absorption of certain nutrients, including magnesium.

Of course, many heartburn sufferers do use PPIs with no problems, Buckley noted. But, he added, people should be aware there are potential risks.

“They should also be aware we have really good alternatives,” he said.

The study was released online April 14 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more on GERD.

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One-a-Day Anti-Seizure Drug Shows Promise for People With Epilepsy

THURSDAY, April 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) — A once-daily epilepsy drug may control seizures just as well as a twice-daily drug, researchers report.

Their preliminary study compared the once-a-day drug eslicarbazepine acetate (Aptiom) to the twice-daily drug carbamazepine (Tegretol, Carbatrol) for more than 800 people newly diagnosed with partial seizures, which originate in one area of the brain.

After six months, 71 percent of those taking eslicarbazepine and 76 percent of those taking carbamazepine were seizure-free.

After one year, 65 percent of those taking eslicarbazepine and 70 percent of those taking carbamazepine were seizure-free, said the team led by Dr. Elinor Ben-Menachem, of Gothenburg University in Sweden.

The study was funded by Portuguese drug maker BIAL-Portela & Ca., and will be presented April 19 at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting, in Vancouver.

“Seizure control is crucial. A once-a-day drug may help people stick to their medication schedule,” Ben-Menachem said in an academy news release.

“Memory issues, fatigue or a complicated medication schedule can all interfere with a person taking their seizure-control medications on a regular basis,” she added, “so having a once-daily option for patients, especially when they are newly diagnosed and still learning to manage the disease, may be beneficial.”

An epilepsy expert in the United States agreed.

“The study shows eslicarbazepine to be as effective as the older, more tried-and-true drug, carbamazepine, from which it is derived,” said Dr. Sean Hwang, an attending neurologist at Northwell Health’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Care Center in Great Neck, N.Y.

“A longer-acting compound, with once daily dosing, may make it easier for patients to comply with their medication regimen, avoid missed doses, and reduce their risk for breakthrough seizures,” he said.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about epilepsy.

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Antibiotics in Animal Feed Contribute to Drug-Resistant Germs: Study

THURSDAY, April 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Use of antibiotics in farm animal feed is helping drive the worldwide increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, researchers report.

“In the fight against the rise of antibiotic resistance, we need to understand that the use of one antibiotic or, in some cases, antibacterial disinfectants may increase the abundance of multidrug-resistant bacteria,” said study leader James Tiedje. He is a professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Michigan State University.

The research team studied large-scale swine farms in China and a population of pigs in the United States. The findings showed that multidrug-resistant bacteria were the norm, not the exception, on farms where antibiotics are used continuously in feed to promote growth and prevent disease in animals.

“Tracking the source of antibiotic resistance is quite complicated because antibiotic use, which increases the occurrence of resistance, is widespread, and antibiotic resistance can spread between bacteria,” Tiedje added in a university news release.

The Chinese farms in the study were close to large cities, so controlling antibiotic resistance in the pigs is important to minimize the risk to people, Tiedje explained.

This is a global issue, not an isolated Chinese issue, Tiedje said. “Multidrug resistance is just a plane ride away. This is why our work in China is definitely as relevant as in the United States,” he said.

The findings were published online April 12 in the journal mBio.

Antibiotics have been used so extensively that the bacteria they are intended to kill have adapted to them, making the drugs less effective, health experts say.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 2 million Americans a year become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria and at least 23,000 people die each year as a result of these infections.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about antibiotic resistance.

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Study Links Green Spaces to Longer Lives for Women

THURSDAY, April 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Women living in homes surrounded by lots of trees and vegetation may have a lower risk of death than those in areas with less greenery, a new study suggests.

Researchers sifted through data on more than 108,000 women across the United States. The information was collected between 2000 and 2008.

The researchers found that women living in the greenest surroundings had a 12 percent lower risk of death than those in the least green locations. The study also found that women with the most vegetation around their homes had a 34 percent lower rate of respiratory disease-related death. And women living with lush vegetation had a 13 percent lower rate of cancer death than those with the least green surroundings, the study reported.

Although the study found associations between living in greener areas and living longer, it wasn’t designed to prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

“We were surprised to observe such strong associations between increased exposure to greenness and lower [death] rates,” said study author Peter James, a research associate at Harvard T.S. Chan School of Public Health, in Boston.

“We were even more surprised to find evidence that a large proportion of the benefit from high levels of vegetation seems to be connected with improved mental health,” he said in a school news release.

The researchers said that better mental health was observed through lower levels of depression. Other elements that may be involved in the benefits of greenery include more opportunities for socializing, more physical activity and less exposure to air pollution, the study authors said.

The study was published online April 14 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

More information

The U.S. Office on Women’s Health has more about women’s mental health.

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Psoriasis May Raise Risk for Aneurysms in Abdomen: Study

By Maureen Salamon
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, April 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Psoriasis patients may face a higher risk of an abdominal aortic aneurysm, though the overall odds of experiencing this potentially deadly blood vessel rupture are small, new research shows.

The Danish scientists also found that the more severe the psoriasis — a chronic autoimmune condition characterized by scaly, red patches of skin — the more likely a person will develop an abdominal aortic aneurysm. They believe the two conditions share overlapping inflammatory processes in the body.

“The association between [abdominal aortic aneurysm] and psoriasis has not been examined before, but we are not surprised by seeing a heightened risk in our study,” said lead researcher Dr. Usman Khalid, a fellow in the department of cardiology at Herlev and Gentofte Hospital in Hellerup, Denmark.

“Our results add to the evidence that there is an increased risk of various cardiovascular diseases in patients with psoriasis,” Khalid added.

The study is published April 14 in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.

About 7.5 million people in the United States are affected by psoriasis, an incurable condition that occurs when the immune system attacks healthy skin cells, causing them to shed more quickly, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.

Abdominal aortic aneurysms occur when the main blood vessel supplying blood from the heart to the abdomen becomes enlarged. Often, there are no symptoms until there is a rupture, which can often prove fatal. Their prevalence increases with age and affects about 2 percent of people 65 and older, typically men, according to the study.

Khalid and his team analyzed more than 59,000 patients with mild psoriasis and 11,000 patients with severe psoriasis using 14 years of data from nationwide registries in Denmark. The patients were tracked until they were diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm, died, moved or the study ended.

The researchers found that patients with mild psoriasis were 20 percent more likely to develop an abdominal aneurysm than people without psoriasis.
And those with severe psoriasis were 67 percent more likely to develop an aneurysm.

However, the study did not prove that psoriasis causes these aneurysms, merely that an association exists between the two conditions.

“More research is needed to explain the causal mechanisms,” Khalid said. “Nonetheless, our findings not only stress the need to treat the symptoms of the skin disorder, but also a regular evaluation of the risk factors that are associated with cardiovascular disease outcomes.

“Also, patients with psoriasis must be encouraged to change [an] unhealthy lifestyle and adhere to a daily program that will minimize the risk of cardiovascular problems,” Khalid added.

Dr. James Elder, a dermatologist at the University of Michigan Health System, contended that screening psoriasis patients for these aneurysms — which involves expensive imaging tests such as ultrasound or CT — isn’t cost-effective.

“You’d only find one [extra] case for spending a lot of money,” said Elder.

Elder agreed with Dr. Katherine Cox, a dermatologist at Houston Methodist West Hospital in Texas, that the study offers useful information, especially since it showed psoriasis seems to be an independent risk factor for abdominal aortic aneurysms, beyond patients’ other heart risk factors.

“We have known for a long time that psoriasis is not just a skin-deep issue. We’ve known there’s a cardiovascular risk issue with psoriasis. So, it’s not surprising to see now that it’s connected with [abdominal aneurysms] as well, especially since they share similar inflammatory pathways,” said Cox.

“Being able to give [risk] numbers to patients makes it more real for patients,” Cox added. Abdominal aneurysms “are a silent killer. I’m not a cardiologist, but because a lot of people are asymptomatic for it, because they’re not looking for it, they may miss it,” she said.

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine offers more on abdominal aortic aneurysms.

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About Half of Women May Benefit From Mammograms at 40: Analysis

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, April 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) — New research suggests that all women turning 40 should get a breast cancer risk assessment, since half of them may have risks that are high enough to warrant annual mammograms right away.

The finding is important because the latest guidelines on mammograms advise that most women can wait until the age of 45 or 50 to start having annual screenings.

But the review of female patients between the ages of 40 and 44 found that 50 percent had an above-average risk for breast cancer, and therefore would be eligible to begin screening mammography at age 40, said lead researcher Dr. Jennifer Plichta. She’s a breast surgery fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

The study also found a significant percentage of women would qualify for other breast screening methods, including breast MRI and genetic testing, Plichta said.

“We believe formal risk assessment is essential for women ages 40 to 44 in order to identify those who require screening mammography to start at the age of 40, and those who would qualify for screening MRIs and genetic testing,” Plichta said.

Plichta was to present her team’s findings Thursday at the American Society of Breast Surgeons annual meeting in Dallas. Findings presented at meetings are generally viewed as preliminary until they’ve been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

The analysis was designed to look at new breast cancer screening guidelines from the American Cancer Society and the American Society of Breast Surgeons.

The cancer society updated its guidelines in 2015, recommending that women could wait until age 45 to start receiving annual mammograms. Previously, the cancer society had recommended yearly screenings starting at age 40.

The American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBS) subsequently changed its guidelines to mirror the new cancer society recommendation, Plichta said. However, she noted the ASBS added a few extra conditions:

• Women should start mammograms earlier than 45 if they have a calculated lifetime risk greater than 15 percent.
• Women with a 20 percent or greater lifetime risk of breast cancer also should undergo screening MRIs.
• Women with a 5 percent or greater risk of a breast cancer-related genetic mutation should receive genetic testing.

“Critical to the development and interpretation of both of these new guidelines is formal risk assessment,” Plichta said. “Furthermore, risk assessment is needed not only to determine who qualifies for mammography, but also who may require screening MRIs and/or genetic testing.”

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendations state that most women begin mammography at age 50. However, they also say that women should talk to their doctors about risk factors that could lead them to start breast cancer screening earlier.

The new study involved more than 900 women. None had been diagnosed with breast cancer. All were seen as new patients at the Massachusetts General Hospital breast clinic between March 2011 and October 2015, the researchers said.

Fifty percent of these women met either the ACS or the ASBS requirements for early mammography, Plichta said. That includes 39 percent who met the ACS criteria for above-average risk for breast cancer, and an additional 11 percent who met the American Society of Breast Surgeons’ criteria.

The researchers also found that 32 percent of the women met the groups’ eligibility standards for regular screening MRIs, and 25 percent would be eligible for genetic testing, Plichta said.

Breast cancer risk assessments are typically not a part of standard care for this age group, the researchers noted. Since the new guidelines lean heavily on knowing breast cancer risk, doctors need to redouble their efforts to make sure risk assessments are done for women in their early 40s, they concluded.

More information

For more on breast cancer screening, visit the American Cancer Society.

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