Recommendations for screenings are based on a lot of science. Science is an ongoing process – as researchers learn more, the recommendations change.
People might assume that more screening is always better, but that isn’t the case. No screening is perfect: sometimes they miss real cases and other times they incorrectly identify a healthy people as having a disease (false positives). False positives lead to extra tests, biopsies, surgeries, medical treatments, etc. Not to mention the cost, emotional stress, missed work etc …. In other worse, false positives harm healthy people.
Researchers try to strike a balance between identifying true cases and minimizing false positives.
Another issue that changes how screenings are recommended is that we learn more about the natural history of diseases, or that treatments change over time. For example, we now know that cervical cancer is a slow growing cancer. Most people don’ need a screening every single year (because that ws leading to excess false positives) – so they increased the space between screenings.
It’s totally fine fo r you to be skeptical of screening recommendations, but please know that they are based on legit science. The organization that makes recommendations is called the US Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF for short). https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/ You can go on the website and look at the science that underpins the latest recommendations. If you have questions about the science, do more research, ask your doctor what they think, and ultimately come to a decision between you and your doc about what is right for you.