Until now, women have been invited to breast cancer screening after their 50th birthday, but starting next week, all 40-year-old women will receive an invitation so that each woman's risk of developing breast cancer can be calculated based on genetic data.

"If this risk is higher than usual – if the risk for these 40-year-old women is the same as it is for other women at the age of 50 – then including these women in screening earlier is justified. Starting mammography already at the age of 40," said Steven Smit, head of the biobank laboratory at the Estonian Genome Center.

Around 3,000 genetic variants are taken into account when calculating the risk. However, the study does not include BRCA gene mutations, which led actress Angelina Jolie to decide to have her breasts removed 13 years ago to prevent developing the disease.

"These are hereditary forms of cancer, which are assessed through separate tests as needed if there has been breast cancer in the family," Smit said.

There are almost 10,000 40-year-old women in Estonia, and invitations will be sent both to those who have already donated their genes to the Estonian Genome Center and to those who have not.

"The gene donors' data will not be checked automatically. The first step is still to go to the Health Portal and submit a declaration of consent there so that the data can be used in the healthcare system," said Krista Kruuv-Käo, head of preventive services at the Estonian Health Insurance Fund.

The same declaration of consent must also be completed by women whose data is not in the Estonian Genome Center. They will receive a referral to a laboratory to provide a blood sample.

It is also possible to put this service in place for other serious diseases, but the Health Insurance Fund does not consider this reasonable, as the state would not have the capacity to follow up on them.

"We are also analyzing how we could use genetic risk in the case of cardiovascular diseases to more precisely involve those people whose risks are higher in preventive measures," Kruuv-Käo said.

Currently, the Estonian Genome Center holds data on approximately one-fifth of Estonia's population, and no new gene donors are being accepted.

"The Genome Center would certainly be fully prepared for this, but at the moment there is simply no funding available for it. The Genome Center's general funding has also been reduced in recent years," Smit said.

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