Should I keep having mammograms now that I'm 75 or older?

Written for women — and BreastScreen Australia services are for anyone with breasts who's eligible, including trans and gender-diverse people. If that's you, your GP can advise on your situation.

BreastScreen Australia actively invites women aged 50–74 for a free screening mammogram every two years. Once you turn 75, the invitations stop — but you stay eligible for free screening. That's not the program telling you to stop, and it's not telling you to keep going. It's the point where the benefits and the downsides get close enough that it becomes a genuine choice to weigh up with your GP. This page hands you the honest picture and the questions to take in, so you decide it together — not on autopilot.

Your age

The one thing I need. Tap a band, or type your age — either is fine.

or type it

Just the number's fine.

Dr HB Lo

Integrative GP · Mammograms after 75 — decision aid

Your situation

The decision

After 74, BreastScreen Australia stops sending invitations — not because screening is banned, but because past 75 the benefit and the harm get close enough that it becomes genuinely yours to weigh.

You can still screen for free after 75 — you just won't be invited. That silence isn't a 'no'. It's a 'your call now'.

Women 50–74 are actively invited; women 75 and over remain eligible for free screening but aren't sent an invitation, and "should balance the potential benefits and downsides for them" (BreastScreen Australia). It's an individual decision based on your general health and life expectancy, made with your GP (Cancer Australia).

What it looks like across 100 women

100 women your age who keep screening for the next ~10 years.

A very small number — a breast-cancer death prevented by screening at this age (small and uncertain). A bigger number — found to have a cancer that would never have troubled them (over-diagnosis), who may still get a biopsy, surgery or radiotherapy. The rest — screened with no change to how long or how well they live; some after a recall scare or extra test.

Of 100 women your age who keep screening: a very small number have a breast-cancer death prevented.

A bigger number are found to have a cancer that would never have troubled them — and may still get a biopsy, surgery, or radiotherapy for it.

Most are screened with no change to how long or how well they live — some after a recall scare or an extra test.

Exact numbers depend on your health and how many years are realistically ahead — that's the part only your GP can fill in.

Benefit shrinks with age and shorter life expectancy (Cancer Australia). International-tier estimate: among breast cancers found by screening in women aged 75–84, around 47% are over-diagnosed (US National Cancer Institute, 2023) — flagged as international because the AU primary sources describe the downsides without a precise 75+ figure.

Five questions to take to your GP

How much it helps someone like me

Given my health and the years likely ahead, how much does screening actually help someone like me?
My risk level

Am I average risk, or higher? Does that change your answer?
What a small finding would mean

If a mammogram finds something small, what would treatment at my age involve — and could it be something that never needed treating?
What you'd advise

What would you do, or advise your own mum, in my situation?
The safety net if I stop

If I stop, what should I still watch for and report straight away? (A new lump or change is never "screening" — it's a GP visit.)

The honest part

This cuts both ways, honestly. Some women in their late 70s and 80s are fit, expect many good years, and reasonably choose to keep screening. Others have other health conditions, or fewer years ahead, and the harms — scares, biopsies, treatment for a cancer that was never going to hurt them — outweigh a benefit that gets smaller with age. Neither choice is 'the brave one' or 'the giving-up one'. Your general health and how many years are realistically ahead matter more here than the number 75 — and that's exactly the bit to work through with your GP.

Take it with you

Email me the one-pager to take to my GP.

A clean print-out with these numbers and the five questions to ask — so you decide it together, not on autopilot.

Your email

If you want the same for the other screens

This is the general version. The full Cancer-screening decisions kit walks the same honest weighing-up through bowel, cervical and prostate screening after 75 — and the "is it worth it for me" maths for each. See the Cancer-screening decisions kit →