Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 Mar;23(3):248-53.
doi: 10.1007/s11606-007-0479-7. Epub 2008 Jan 3.

Prostate-specific antigen screening and mortality from prostate cancer

Stephen W Marcella  1 , George G Rhoads, Jeffrey L Carson, Frances Merlino, Homer Wilcox
Affiliations

Prostate-specific antigen screening and mortality from prostate cancer

Stephen W Marcella et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2008 Mar.

Abstract

Background: There is no available evidence from randomized trials that early detection of prostate cancer improves health outcomes, but the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test is commonly used to screen men for prostate cancer.

Objective: The objective of the study is to see if screening with PSA decreases mortality from prostate cancer.

Design, setting, and participants: This is a case-control study using one-to-one matching on race, age, and time of availability of exposure to PSA screening. Decedents, 380, from New Jersey Vital Statistics 1997 to 2000 inclusive, 55-79 years of age at diagnosis were matched to living controls without metastatic prostate cancer. Medical records were obtained from all providers, and we abstracted information about PSA tests from 1989 to the time of diagnosis in each index case.

Measurements: Measurements consist of a comparison of screening (yes, no) between cases and controls. Measure of association was the odds ratio.

Results: Eligible cases were diagnosed each year from 1989 to 1999 with the median year being 1993. PSA screening was evident in 23.2-29.2% of cases and 21.8-26.1% of controls depending on the screening criteria. The unadjusted, matched odds ratio for dying of prostate cancer if ever screened was 1.09 (95% CI 0.76 to 1.60) for the most restrictive criteria and 1.19 (95% CI, 0.85 to 1.66) for the least restrictive. Adjustment for comorbidity and education level made no significant differences in these values. There were no significant interactions by age or race.

Conclusions: PSA screening using an ever/never tabulation for tests from 1989 until 2000 did not protect New Jersey men from prostate cancer mortality.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001.
    1. {'text': '', 'ref_index': 1, 'ids': [{'type': 'PubMed', 'value': '12458992', 'is_inner': True, 'url': 'https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12458992/'}]}
    2. US Task Force on Prevention. Screening for prostate cancer: recommendation and rationale. Ann of Intern Med. 2002;137:915–16. - PubMed
    1. {'text': '', 'ref_index': 1, 'ids': [{'type': 'PubMed', 'value': '16449183', 'is_inner': True, 'url': 'https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16449183/'}]}
    2. Smith RA, Cokkinides V, Eyre HJ. American Cancer Society guidelines for the early detection of cancer, 2006. CA Cancer J Clin. 2006;56:11–25. - PubMed
    1. {'text': '', 'ref_index': 1, 'ids': [{'type': 'PubMed', 'value': '16061923', 'is_inner': True, 'url': 'https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16061923/'}]}
    2. Sox HC, Mulrow C. An editorial update: should benefits of radical prostatectomy affect the decision to screen for early prostate cancer? Ann Intern Med. 2005;143:232–3. - PubMed
    1. {'text': '', 'ref_index': 1, 'ids': [{'type': 'DOI', 'value': '10.1001/jama.273.4.289', 'is_inner': False, 'url': 'https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.273.4.289'}, {'type': 'PubMed', 'value': '7529341', 'is_inner': True, 'url': 'https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7529341/'}]}
    2. Gann PH, Hennekens CH, Stampfer MJ. A prospective evaluation of plasma prostate-specific antigen for detection of prostatic cancer. JAMA. 1995;273:289–94. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances