A new analysis finds that one in five men in their 40s has had a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test within the previous year and that young black men are more likely than young white men to have undergone the test.
The study, published in the September 15, 2008 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, provides valuable information as experts discuss possible changes to prostate cancer screening recommendations.
Currently, major medical organizations say evidence is insufficient to recommend routine prostate cancer screening using PSA or digital rectal exam (DRE). Rather, most group recommended men at average risk discuss with their doctor starting at age 50 whether to get tested. The American Cancer Society does though recommend that African Americans and men with a first degree relative with prostate cancer should , have screening every year, begin at age 45, and that men with two or more first degree relatives with prostate cancer begin testing at age 40.
To shed light on current PSA screening practices in young men, Dr. Judd Moul and Dr. Charles Scales, of Duke Prostate Center and Urologic Surgery at Duke University and colleagues obtained data from the 2002 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, an annual, population-based survey of civilian, non-institutionalized adults in the United States. The final sample for this study consisted of 58,511 men ages 40 and above.