Field kit
Your screening timeline
Enter your age and a few facts about your body. See which preventive screenings the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends for you now, what's coming up, and how it all lays out across a lifetime.
Screening is consistent monitoring on a schedule of years instead of days: a deliberate look for trouble before it makes itself known. The schedule changes as you age, and almost nobody can recite theirs. This tool lays it out.
For average-risk adults, as of October 2026. The rows below are the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's final recommendations as posted on October 16, 2026. They are written for adults without symptoms and without a known higher risk. If you have a family history of a cancer, earlier abnormal results, a known genetic risk or symptoms of any kind, your schedule may be different and may start earlier. This is a starting point for a conversation with your clinician, not a substitute for one.
What applies at your age
Turn on JavaScript to see the recommendations for your age. The full list is in the table below.
Coming up in the next ten years
Left off your list, and why
Your screening tests across a lifetime
Ages 18 to 85. Each bar is the age range a Task Force recommendation covers; the amber line is you.
- Recommended for you
- Recommended if a risk factor applies
- Your choice, with your clinician (grade C)
Show the numbers
| Screening | Who | Ages | Grade | How often |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blood pressure screening | Adults | 18 to 39 | A | Every 3 to 5 years if you are not at higher risk and an earlier reading was normal; every year if you are at higher risk. |
| Blood pressure screening | Adults | 40 and older | A | Every year. |
| Colorectal cancer screening | Adults | 45 to 49 | B | Colonoscopy every 10 years; a stool test (FIT or high-sensitivity gFOBT) every year; stool DNA-FIT every 1 to 3 years; CT colonography or flexible sigmoidoscopy every 5 years; or flexible sigmoidoscopy every 10 years plus a yearly FIT. |
| Colorectal cancer screening | Adults | 50 to 75 | A | Colonoscopy every 10 years; a stool test (FIT or high-sensitivity gFOBT) every year; stool DNA-FIT every 1 to 3 years; CT colonography or flexible sigmoidoscopy every 5 years; or flexible sigmoidoscopy every 10 years plus a yearly FIT. |
| Colorectal cancer screening | Adults | 76 to 85 | C | Decide with your clinician, based on your overall health and your past screening. |
| Breast cancer screening (mammogram) | Assigned female at birth | 40 to 74 | B | Every 2 years. |
| Cervical cancer screening | People with a cervix | 21 to 29 | A | A Pap test every 3 years. |
| Cervical cancer screening | People with a cervix | 30 to 65 | A | A Pap test every 3 years, an HPV test every 5 years, or both together every 5 years. |
| Lung cancer screening (low-dose CT) | Adults, if you have a 20 pack-year smoking history and still smoke or quit within the past 15 years | 50 to 80 | B | Every year. |
| Prediabetes and type 2 diabetes screening | Adults, if you have overweight or obesity | 35 to 70 | B | The Task Force says every 3 years may be reasonable if results are normal. |
| Osteoporosis screening (bone density) | Assigned female at birth, if you are past menopause and your clinician finds a risk factor for osteoporosis | 40 to 64 | B | No set interval; the evidence on repeat testing is limited. |
| Osteoporosis screening (bone density) | Assigned female at birth | 65 and older | B | No set interval; the evidence on repeat testing is limited. |
| Abdominal aortic aneurysm screening (ultrasound) | Assigned male at birth, if you have ever smoked | 65 to 75 | B | Once. |
| Prostate cancer screening (PSA test) | People with a prostate | 55 to 69 | C | A personal decision, made after talking through the benefits and harms with your clinician. |
| Hepatitis C screening | Adults | 18 to 79 | B | At least once. Again from time to time if your risk continues, for example with injection drug use. |
| HIV screening | Adults | 15 to 65 | A | At least once; repeat testing is reasonable for people at higher risk. |
Source: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force final recommendation statements as posted on October 16, 2026. Average-risk adults; not pregnancy-specific guidance.
Every recommendation in this tool, for all ages
| Recommendation | Who | Ages | Grade | Task Force statement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blood pressure screening | Adults | 18 to 39 | A | April 2021 |
| Blood pressure screening | Adults | 40 and older | A | April 2021 |
| Colorectal cancer screening | Adults | 45 to 49 | B | May 2021 |
| Colorectal cancer screening | Adults | 50 to 75 | A | May 2021 |
| Colorectal cancer screening | Adults | 76 to 85 | C | May 2021 |
| Breast cancer screening (mammogram) | Assigned female at birth | 40 to 74 | B | April 2024 |
| Cervical cancer screening | People with a cervix | 21 to 29 | A | August 2018 |
| Cervical cancer screening | People with a cervix | 30 to 65 | A | August 2018 |
| Lung cancer screening (low-dose CT) | Adults, if you have a 20 pack-year smoking history and still smoke or quit within the past 15 years | 50 to 80 | B | March 2021 |
| Prediabetes and type 2 diabetes screening | Adults, if you have overweight or obesity | 35 to 70 | B | August 2021 |
| Osteoporosis screening (bone density) | Assigned female at birth, if you are past menopause and your clinician finds a risk factor for osteoporosis | 40 to 64 | B | January 2025 |
| Osteoporosis screening (bone density) | Assigned female at birth | 65 and older | B | January 2025 |
| Abdominal aortic aneurysm screening (ultrasound) | Assigned male at birth, if you have ever smoked | 65 to 75 | B | December 2019 |
| Prostate cancer screening (PSA test) | People with a prostate | 55 to 69 | C | May 2018 |
| Hepatitis C screening | Adults | 18 to 79 | B | March 2020 |
| HIV screening | Adults | 15 to 65 | A | June 2019 |
| Depression screening | Adults | 18 and older | B | June 2023 |
| Anxiety screening | Adults | 18 to 64 | B | June 2023 |
| Unhealthy alcohol use screening | Adults | 18 and older | B | November 2018 |
| Unhealthy drug use screening | Adults | 18 and older | B | June 2020 |
| Statin to prevent heart disease and stroke | Adults, if you have at least one risk factor (such as high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure or smoking) and a 10-year risk of heart attack or stroke of 10% or more | 40 to 75 | B | August 2022 |
| Help to quit tobacco | Adults, if you use tobacco | 18 and older | A | January 2021 |
| Weight management program | Adults, if your BMI is 30 or higher | 18 and older | B | September 2018 |
| Exercise to prevent falls | Adults, if you are at higher risk of falling | 65 and older | B | June 2024 |
How to read the grades
The Task Force grades each service on the strength of the evidence. A and B both mean "offer or provide this service": A when there is high certainty of a substantial benefit, B when the benefit is moderate or the certainty is. C means the net benefit is small, so the decision belongs to you and your clinician, based on your circumstances. D is a recommendation against, and I means the evidence is too thin to call either way. The timeline draws A and B as solid bars and C as pale ones; an outlined bar applies only if a risk factor the tool can't see is true for you.
Where the American Cancer Society differs
The American Cancer Society publishes its own screening guidelines, revised most recently in May 2026, and on several cancers it starts earlier or screens more often than the Task Force. The two groups weigh the same evidence differently, so bring both to the conversation.
| Cancer | U.S. Preventive Services Task Force | American Cancer Society |
|---|---|---|
| Breast | Mammogram every 2 years from 40 to 74 (grade B). | The option of yearly mammograms from 40 to 44; yearly from 45 to 54; then every 2 years, or yearly by preference. |
| Cervical | From 21, a Pap test every 3 years. From 30 to 65, a Pap every 3 years, an HPV test every 5, or both every 5. Stop after 65 if earlier screening was adequate. | From 25, a primary HPV test every 5 years is preferred; a self-collected HPV test every 3 years is one alternative. You may stop at 65 after a run of normal results. |
| Colorectal | From 45 to 75; selectively from 76 to 85. | From 45 through 75; talk it over from 76 to 85; no screening after 85. |
| Lung | Yearly low-dose CT from 50 to 80 with a 20 pack-year history, if you still smoke or quit within the past 15 years. | Yearly low-dose CT from 50 to 80 with a 20 pack-year history, whether you still smoke or used to. |
| Prostate | From 55 to 69, an individual decision (grade C); against PSA screening from 70. | Talk it over from 50; from 45 for African American men and for men whose father or brother had prostate cancer before 65. |
About the Task Force, as of October 2026
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is a volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine. Its work has been interrupted. The panel had not met since March 2025 when, in May 2026, its chair and vice chair were removed. On September 17, 2026, the Department of Health and Human Services named eight new members, including a new chair, to join the eight already serving.
Several updates were left unfinished along the way. The Task Force's pages for cervical and prostate cancer screening, among others, still carry an "update in progress" notice over statements from 2018. Until new final statements appear, the ones in this tool are the most recent the Task Force has issued.
What stays on this device
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Last updated October 16, 2026. Guidance cited here was current on that date; clinical guidelines change, so check with your own clinician. See our editorial policy.
Not average risk? Get a plan that fits you.
Family history, earlier results and your own numbers can all change the schedule. Dr. Scott works with individuals and families through The Scott Health Advisory to build a screening plan around the actual person.
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