When should women stop getting mammograms?

The mammography trials did not include many women older than 70 years, so there is insufficient data about this age group to know if mammography leads to saved lives or not. Many women in their 70's and 80's get mammograms which is fine but you have to be prepared for an abnormal finding and what you would do about it.  If you are unhealthy and acting on an abnormal mammogram would be more harm to you, then good then you should reconsider annual mammography because there are no studies that say that your survival would be any different if you had not had the mammogram.

Being older is beneficial when it comes to mammography, which is still the first-line screening method for breast cancer. Mammograms are more sensitive as women get older, because their breast tissue becomes less glandular and more fatty, which makes it easier to detect cancer. Less radiation is typically needed to get an excellent-quality mammogram in older women compared with younger women, although the dose for both women is very low.

Despite these facts, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently concluded that the evidence was insufficient to assess the benefits and harms of screening mammography in women 75 years of age or older. Why is this?

The USPSTF recommended that women between the ages of 50 and 74 get a mammogram every two years. There are data from high-quality clinical trials showing that lives are saved when this is done. Unfortunately, women age 75 and older have not been included in any of these trials.