PSA Screening Tied to Lower Risk for Prostate Cancer Mortality

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 10, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening is associated with a decreased risk for prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM) among both Black and White men, according to a study published online Aug. 4 in JAMA Oncology.

Michael V. Sherer, M.D., from the University of California in San Diego, and colleagues compared outcomes after PSA screening among non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White men. The analysis included 45,834 U.S. veterans (aged 55 to 69 years) who were diagnosed with intermediate-, high-, or very high-risk prostate cancer between 2004 and 2017.

The researchers found that the PSA screening rate was associated with a lower risk for PCSM among Black men (subdistribution hazard ratio [sHR], 0.56; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.41 to 0.76; P = 0.001) and White men (sHR, 0.58; 95 percent CI, 0.46 to 0.75; P = 0.001). Annual screening versus some screening was associated with a significant reduction in the risk for PCSM among Black men (sHR, 0.65; 95 percent CI, 0.46 to 0.92; P = 0.02) but not among White men (sHR, 0.91; 95 percent CI, 0.74 to 1.11; P = 0.35).

“Annual screening was associated with reduced PCSM risk among Black men but not among White men, suggesting that more intensive screening protocols may benefit Black patients,” the authors write. “Further research is needed to identify appropriate protocols to maximize the benefits of PSA screening.”

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