The Checkup: Most Women Don’t Need Yearly Mammograms, Study Says

A new study suggests that mammograms might do more harm—and less good—than people previously realized.

• Oh man, is this sticky. A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that mammograms don’t save as many lives as doctors once thought, and in fact the screening test has done a lot of harm to a lot of women over the past 30 years—we’re talking 1.3 million women, who underwent mammograms and were subsequently treated for cancers that experts say would never have caused clinical symptoms. As WebMD reports, the study findings coincide with a recent push toward postponing mammograms for most women until age 50, instead of 40, and even then having mammograms just every other year after that. You can read more about the study here, but I want to know: Do studies like this change your mind about mammograms, or will you get them yearly as advised?

• Blerg: The CDC is reporting that more than half of young people with HIV have no idea they’re infected. Many groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, say that everyone 15 and older should be tested for HIV, but researchers found that only a third of 18-to-24 year olds and half of high schoolers have ever been tested. CNN has more.

• A new study links autism with air-pollution exposure during pregnancy and the baby’s first year of life. Pollution, researchers found, confers a two-fold increase in risk for autism. More here.