Your chronological age alone should not be the determining factor in whether or not to get cancer screenings.
It is important to discuss this with your primary care provider.
It is important to discuss this with your primary care provider.
As an oncologist, I often see patients who have been diagnosed with cancer at an age beyond what is typically recommended for cancer screenings. Many of these patients unfortunately stopped getting screened years ago because their primary care providers, who were following expert guidelines, no longer recommended it.
MY ADVICE for those who are older but in good health (with a life expectancy of at least 5 more years) is not to let your age prevent you from continuing to get cancer screenings.
This applies to anyone over the recommended ages for routine cancer screenings, such as breast cancer (up to 74 years of age), prostate cancer (up to 69 years of age), colorectal cancer (up to 75 years of age), and lung cancer (up to 80 years of age). Your chronological age alone should not be the determining factor in whether or not to get cancer screenings. It is important to discuss this with your primary care provider.
