Early Prostate Cancer Diagnoses Continue to Fall in U.S.

Diagnoses of early prostate cancer continue to decline in the United States, following the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation against routine screening for the disease, researchers report.

The screening involves a blood test that identifies levels of PSA (prostatic specific antigen), a protein produced by the prostate gland. That test can determine when cancer exists, but it often wrongly identifies nonexistent cancer.

The “false positive” results can cause anxiety and lead to unnecessary follow-up tests. Because of this, the task force issued a draft recommendation against routine screening in 2011 and a final guideline in 2012.

Since then, diagnoses of early prostate cancer in American men aged 50 and older dropped by 19% between 2011 and 2012 and by another 6% the following year, said lead researcher Dr. Ahmedin Jemal. He is vice president of the American Cancer Society’s surveillance and health services research program.

But while men may have been spare unnecessary anguish, less frequent screening may have a downside. Some experts worry more men will develop potentially fatal prostate cancer as a result.

There is a balance in the task force recommendation, said Dr. Anthony D’Amico, chief of genitourinary radiation oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer institute, in Boston.