(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Cancer screening is designed to save lives, but two
new studies suggest patients should more carefully weigh the risks and benefits
of prostate cancer testing.
Researchers at the New Mexico VA Health Care System and University of New Mexico
School of Medicine, Albuquerque, surveyed 3,010 randomly selected adults age 40
and older by phone in 2006 and 2007, of which 375 were men who had either
undergone PSA testing or discussed it with their doctors in the previous two
years.
Overall, 69.9 percent of the men had discussed PSA screening with their
clinician before making a decision, including over 14 percent who decided
against the testing. During those discussions, 73.4 percent of doctors
recommended it. Only 47.8 percent of the men who discussed screening with their
providers correctly answered any of three questions about prostate cancer risk
and screening accuracy.
"Our findings suggest that patients need a greater level of involvement in
screening discussions and to be better informed about prostate cancer screening
issues," study authors wrote.
A separate study out of Australia underscores the importance of weighing the
risks and benefits of prostate cancer screening. Researchers constructed a
statistical model that included prostate cancer incidence rates in Australia
before PSA screening began in 1989 and cancer death rates in 2005. It revealed
that while the benefits and dangers of annual screenings vary with age and risk
level, men who undergo the testing are two to four times more likely to be
diagnosed with prostate cancer, but death rates from the cancer and all other
causes are not significantly different.
"Before undergoing PSA screening, men should be aware of the possible benefits
and harms and of the chances of these benefits and harms occurring," study
authors concluded. "Even under optimistic assumptions, the net mortality benefit
is small, even when prostate cancer deaths are cumulated to 85 years of age."
Source: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2009
