To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Greater PSA Screening Awareness Needed Among High-Risk Groups URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/2280E2.htm Doctor's Guide August 11, 2008
DURHAM, NC -- August, 11, 2008 -- In one of the first examinations of PSA screening in younger men, a study published by researchers at Duke Medicine's Prostate Center finds that 1 in 5 men aged less than 50 years reported undergoing a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test to detect prostate cancer in the previous year, yet only 1 in 3 young black men reported ever having a PSA test in the previous year. The findings appear online in the journal CANCER and will appear in the print version on September 15. "Our findings for black men are discouraging," says the paper's senior author, Judd W. Moul, MD, Duke University, Division of Surgical Urology, Durham, North Carolina. "We've been encouraging black men to get screened at age 40 or 45 for more than a decade, yet only one-third of these high-risk men reported being tested." To assess how many men aged 40 to 49 are being screened, Dr. Moul and the paper's first author, Charles Scales, MD, Duke University, reviewed the 2002 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, an ongoing, state-based, random telephone survey of the US population. Their study demonstrated several sociodemographic characteristics associated with PSA screening in young men. Young black men were more likely than young, white, non-Hispanic men to report having a PSA screening in the previous year. The survey also showed that younger Hispanic men were more likely to undergo PSA testing than younger white non-Hispanic men. Also, health insurance, an ongoing physician-patient relationship, increasing obesity, and high household income and education level were also associated with having a recent PSA test. Dr. Moul believes the current guidelines should be changed to encourage baseline PSA Risk-Assessment starting at age 40. "Even a subtle increase in the PSA value at that age is a pretty powerful predictor of future prostate disease and cancer," says Dr. Moul. "Right now, only 1 in 5 men are getting a PSA test, which is encouraging, but I wish the number was higher. This research suggests we can do a better job of screening men at age 40, and a better job in high-risk men. There's a huge population of African American men who are not getting screened, and men with a family history of prostate cancer who are under 50 are also not getting screened." SOURCE: Duke University Medical Center --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.