Prostate Cancer Screening, Detection Down in U.S.
By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Nov. 17, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Fewer U.S. men are being screened for prostate cancer, and fewer cases of the disease are being diagnosed nationwide, according to two studies published Tuesday.
The big question, researchers said, is whether that trend is bad news or a step in the right direction.
At issue is the prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, test. For years in the United States, men age 50 and older routinely underwent PSA screening to help detect early prostate cancer.
But in 2012, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) -- a panel that advises the federal government -- came out against routine PSA screening.
The panel cited evidence that screening might do more harm than good: Prostate cancer is often slow-growing, and may never advance to the point where it threatens a man's life. So men diagnosed with early prostate tumors might needlessly be subjected to surgery, radiation and other treatments that can cause lingering side effects such as impotence and incontinence, the researchers said.
The two new studies, published Nov. 17 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggest that the USPSTF recommendations have had an impact.
In one study, researchers with the American Cancer Society (ACS) found that in 2013, 31 percent of U.S. men age 50 and older said they'd had a PSA test in the past year. That was down from 38 percent in 2010, and about 41 percent in 2008 -- the year the USPSTF began advising against routine PSA testing for men ages 75 and up.
At the same time, diagnoses of prostate cancer declined nationwide -- from more than 213,000 men in 2011, to about 180,000 in 2012.
The second study, by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, looked only at screening rates and found a similar pattern. The largest decline in PSA screening was among men ages 60 to 64: In 2010, 45 percent underwent screening, versus 35 percent in 2013. Men ages 50 to 54 also saw a big decline, with just 18 percent getting a PSA test in 2013 compared to 23 percent in 2010.
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Nov. 17, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Fewer U.S. men are being screened for prostate cancer, and fewer cases of the disease are being diagnosed nationwide, according to two studies published Tuesday.
The big question, researchers said, is whether that trend is bad news or a step in the right direction.
At issue is the prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, test. For years in the United States, men age 50 and older routinely underwent PSA screening to help detect early prostate cancer.
But in 2012, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) -- a panel that advises the federal government -- came out against routine PSA screening.
The panel cited evidence that screening might do more harm than good: Prostate cancer is often slow-growing, and may never advance to the point where it threatens a man's life. So men diagnosed with early prostate tumors might needlessly be subjected to surgery, radiation and other treatments that can cause lingering side effects such as impotence and incontinence, the researchers said.
The two new studies, published Nov. 17 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggest that the USPSTF recommendations have had an impact.
In one study, researchers with the American Cancer Society (ACS) found that in 2013, 31 percent of U.S. men age 50 and older said they'd had a PSA test in the past year. That was down from 38 percent in 2010, and about 41 percent in 2008 -- the year the USPSTF began advising against routine PSA testing for men ages 75 and up.
At the same time, diagnoses of prostate cancer declined nationwide -- from more than 213,000 men in 2011, to about 180,000 in 2012.
The second study, by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, looked only at screening rates and found a similar pattern. The largest decline in PSA screening was among men ages 60 to 64: In 2010, 45 percent underwent screening, versus 35 percent in 2013. Men ages 50 to 54 also saw a big decline, with just 18 percent getting a PSA test in 2013 compared to 23 percent in 2010.
Source...