Patients in the Dark About Risks of Prostate Cancer Screening
Reported October 02, 2009
(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