Is Prostate Cancer Screening Right For You? |
Prostate Cancer: Screening
Release Date: May 2018
Recommendation Summary
Population | Recommendation | Grade (What's This?) |
---|---|---|
Men aged 55 to 69 years | For men aged 55 to 69 years, the decision to undergo periodic prostate-specific antigen (PSA)–based screening for prostate cancer should be an individual one. Before deciding whether to be screened, men should have an opportunity to discuss the potential benefits and harms of screening with their clinician and to incorporate their values and preferences in the decision. Screening offers a small potential benefit of reducing the chance of death from prostate cancer in some men. However, many men will experience potential harms of screening, including false-positive results that require additional testing and possible prostate biopsy; overdiagnosis and overtreatment; and treatment complications, such as incontinence and erectile dysfunction. In determining whether this service is appropriate in individual cases, patients and clinicians should consider the balance of benefits and harms on the basis of family history, race/ethnicity, comorbid medical conditions, patient values about the benefits and harms of screening and treatment-specific outcomes, and other health needs. Clinicians should not screen men who do not express a preference for screening. | C |
Men 70 years and older | The USPSTF recommends against PSA-based screening for prostate cancer in men 70 years and older. | D |
See the Clinical Considerations section for more information on screening higher-risk populations, including African American men and men with a family history of prostate cancer.
To read the recommendation statement in JAMA, select here.
To read the evidence summary in JAMA, select here.
Internet Citation: Final Update Summary: Prostate Cancer: Screening. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. October 2018.
https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/Page/Document/UpdateSummaryFinal/prostate-cancer-screening1