A new UC Davis study may help a sharply divided medical community determine how often and at what age women should receive mammograms to optimally reduce deaths from breast cancer. At issue is whether mammographic screening is effective for women in their 40s and to what extent financial resources allow for screening. Radiologists from the UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center recently used a computer model to determine what the relative cost-effectiveness was for various strategies and whether women aged 40 to 49 could be added to any cost-effective mammography program to be developed. "While our study does not settle the debate over whether mammograms are useful for all women in their 40s, it does show that screening women in this age group should not be eliminated based on the issue of cost alone," says Karen Lindfors, co-author of the study with C. John Rosenquist, professor of radiology. The study is published in this week's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.