CDC: Cancer Screening Could Save 10,000 Americans a Year

This information was provided by CBS.com. July 7, 2010. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20009860-10391704.html

When was the last time you got screened for cancer? If you don't remember, you're not alone.

At least 10,000 people die each year because they haven't been screened for colon or breast cancer, says a new report from the Centers for Disease Control.

The agency recommends colon cancer screening starting at age 50, earlier if there is a family  history of the disease.

Women should get their first mammogram at age 35, and then another at 40, and then yearly after that, according to WebMD.

"More than a third of Americans who need to be screened haven't been screened," CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden told Reuters.

To put it another way, more than 22 million men and women have not had a potentially life-saving screening test for colorectal cancer and about 7 million women ages 50 to 74 have not had a recent mammogram, according to a CDC statement.

We may not getting be getting screened as often as we should, but overall we're doing better than before - at least when it comes to colon cancer. Screening rates climbed from 52 percent of those who should get tested for colon cancer in 2002 to 63 percent in 2008, said the agency.

"Any screening is good and the overall increase is the main message there," Frieden said.