Disease Prevention & Health Promotion Table 1–6.

Table 1–6. Cancer screening recommendations for average-risk adults: US Preventive Services Task Force

                                                           Test    AND  USPSTF Recommendations                                     

Breast self-examination  /   Recommends against teaching breast self-examination (D).

Clinical breast examination / Insufficient evidence to recommend for or against.

Mammography / Recommends biennial screening mammography for women aged 50 to 74 years (B).
Decision to start biennial screening before the age of 50 should be an individual one and take patient
context into account, including the patient’s values regarding specific benefits and harms (C).

Papanicolaou test / Strongly recommends screening for cervical cancer in sexually active women who have a cervix (A).
Recommends against routinely screening women older than age 65 if they have had adequate recent screening with normal Pap tests and are not otherwise at high risk for cervical cancer (D).

Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening / Recommends CRC screening using fecal occult blood testing,2 sigmoidoscopy, or colonoscopy, in adults, beginning at age 50 years and continuing until age 75 years (A).
Recommends against routine screening in adults age 76–85 years (C).
Recommends against screening in adults older than age 85 years (D). 

Prostate cancer screening / Insufficient evidence to recommend for or against.
Recommends against screening in men >75 years.

1 United States Preventive Services Task Force recommendations available at http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/pocketgd1011/gcp10s2.htm.

2 Home test with three samples.
Recommendation A: The USPSTF strongly recommends that clinicians routinely provide the service to eligible patients. (The USPSTF
found good evidence that the service improves important health outcomes and concludes that benefits substantially outweigh harms.)
Recommendation B: The USPSTF recommends that clinicians routinely provide the service to eligible patients. (The USPSTF found at least fair evidence that the service improves important health outcomes and concludes that benefits substantially outweigh harms.)
Recommendation C: The USPSTF recommends against routinely providing the service. There may be considerations that support providing the service in an individual patient. There is at least moderate certainty that the net benefit is small.
Recommendation D: The USPSTF recommends against routinely providing the service to asymptomatic patients. (The USPSTF found at least fair evidence that the service is ineffective or that harms outweigh benefits.)