Prostate Cancer Screening Guidelines Often Not Followed: Study

Apr 30, 2012 by Andrology

In 2008, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended against testing for prostate cancer in men aged 75 and older, but new research finds that almost 44 percent of these men are still being screened.

Before the 2008 guidelines were set, about 43 percent of men in this age group opted for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests, but the task force found that testing had no effect on longevity and could result in overtreatment with adverse consequences. Meanwhile, the task force drafted a new set of guidelines last October that are even more critical of PSA testing, suggesting it may not have any value for men of any age.

“Patients and providers did not adjust their screening behavior following the last major United States Preventive Services Task Force recommendation, and the effect of the upcoming guideline needs to be monitored,” said study author Dr. Sandip Prasad, a urologic oncology research fellow at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

“Many physicians and patients continue to have confidence in PSA screening to prevent death from prostate cancer, and it is incumbent upon the medical community to refine the use of this screening test to minimize overdiagnosis and overtreatment of prostate cancer without losing ground on the progress we have made against the disease,” he added.

The findings were published in a letter in the April 25 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Prasad’s team found that the number of older men receiving PSA tests had actually increased to 43.9 percent by 2010. That’s more screening than in men in their 40s and 50s (12.5 percent and 33.2 percent, respectively) who are the ones most likely to benefit from early diagnosis and treatment, the researchers said.

Only men aged 60 to 74 were more likely to get a PSA test (51.2 percent), they noted.

To gather the data, the researchers used the 2005 and 2010 Cancer Control Supplements, which are part of the annual National Health Interview Survey.