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Prostate Cancer Awareness Campaigns Could Cause Confusion. Evidence Lacking to Assess Balance of Benefits, Harms of Screening
American Family Physician, 09/28/09

Mitchell D – In recognition of September as National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, many of your male patients (and their wives) may have been reading, hearing and seeing news reports, commercials and public service announcements encouraging men to be screened for the disease. However, the AAFP has concluded that current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of prostate cancer screening in men younger than age 75, and the Academy actually recommends against screening men 75 and older. Those AAFP recommendations agree with those of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, or USPSTF. The task force found that for men of all age groups, treatment for prostate cancer detected by screening can cause moderate to substantial harms, including erectile dysfunction, urinary incontinence, bowel dysfunction and death. USPSTF said more than 27,000 American men died of prostate cancer in 2006, and more than 200,000 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2007. However, the task force also said that the median age of death from prostate cancer from 2000 to 2004 was 80, and 71 percent of deaths occurred in men older than 75. Furthermore, the task force said that a substantial proportion of prostate cancer cases detected with current screening methods will not cause symptoms during the patients' lifetimes.

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