USPSTF Issues New Prostate Cancer Screening Recommendations

The US Preventive Services Task Force has issued a new recommendation statement regarding prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based screening for prostate cancer among men aged 55 to 69 years.

The new statement was published as an update to the task force’s 2012 recommendation on PSA-based screening for prostate cancer.

In their statement, the USPSTF makes the following recommendations:

• The decision for men aged 55 to 69 years to receive PSA-based screening for prostate cancer should be an individual one.
  • Clinicians and patients should discuss the potential benefits and harms of screening.
  • Clinicians should consider each patients’ family history, race/ethnicity, comorbid medical conditions, patient values about the benefits and harms of screening and treatment-specific outcomes, and other health needs when weighing the benefits and harms of screening.
• Men who do not express a preference for screening should not be screened (C recommendation).
• PSA-based screening for prostate cancer is not recommended for men aged 70 years and older (D recommendation).

In the United States, the lifetime risk of receiving a prostate cancer diagnosis is approximately 13%, and the lifetime risk of mortality due to prostate cancer is 2.5%. The risk for prostate cancer is especially elevated in African American men and in men with a family history of the disease.

To view the USPSTF’s full recommendation statement, click here.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

US Preventive Services Task Force. Screening for prostate cancer: US Preventive Services Task Force recommendation statement. JAMA. 2018;319(18):1901-1913. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.3710