Luxembourg is expanding its breast cancer screening programme
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The response of the Luxembourg Ministry of Health to a parliamentary enquiry confirmed that the mammography screening programme has been expanded to include additional age groups. Women aged 45 to 49 and 70 to 74 are now also invited to be screened, increasing the potential number of participants by 36,600.
To avoid overloading the system, a system of distributing invitations by year and month of birth has been introduced. Women receive letters one month before their birthday. Those born in odd-numbered years received invitations as early as 2024, while those born in even-numbered years received invitations in 2025.
Women aged 50 to 69 years continued to receive invitations at 23-month intervals between surveys.
The issue of possible delays was of particular interest. According to the ministry, women who reached the age of 50 in 2024 received their invitations without any changes in the deadlines. Nevertheless, statistics show that the waiting time for mammography varies depending on health care facilities:
- At CHL Hospital, the waiting period can be as long as 12 months in the absence of an emergency indication.
- At a CHEM centre, up to 7 weeks.
- At some venues, such as HRS Kirchberg, you can sign up the next day.
Priority procedures have been prioritised for emergencies and patients can receive a referral for same day assessment.
To date, there is no data on how actively women in the new age group are participating in the programme. This raises questions about the effectiveness of the expansion and the need for additional information campaigns to increase participation.
The expansion of the programme is aimed at early detection of diseases in the age group where risks start to increase. However, it is important to ensure that existing groups do not experience a deterioration in access to screening.
In the coming years, Luxembourg's health system will have to adapt to the increasing number of patients in order to maintain a high speed and quality of care for all categories of programme participants.
