prostate-report.org

The introduction of PSA screening has resulted in overdiagnosis; study

In our days there is uncertainty regarding the effect of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening on the rate of prostate cancer death. There is also a little uncertainty related PSA screening effect on the rate of prostate cancer diagnosis. The majority of opinions suggest that systematic estimates of the number of men affected do not exist.

A recent research team obtained data on age-specific incidence and initial course of therapy from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program. Researchers then used age-specific male population estimates from the US Census to determine the excess (or deficit) in the number of men diagnosed and treated in each year after 1986-the year before PSA screening was introduced.

Since 1986, an estimated additional 1 305 600 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer, 1 004 800 of whom were definitively treated for the disease. The team concluded that introduction of PSA screening has resulted in more than 1 million additional men being diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer in the United States. The growth is particularly dramatic for younger men. Given the considerable time that has passed since PSA screening began, most of this excess incidence must represent overdiagnosis.