A healthcare policy analyst says new mammography guidelines proposed by a government task force would be a setback for early breast cancer detection.

A government panel of doctors and scientists recommended Monday that women in their forties should not have annual mammograms and older women should reduce their use of the screening device. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) concluded that early and frequent breast cancer screenings often lead to false alarms and unneeded biopsies without substantially improving women's odds of survival...