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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Prostate Cancer: Screening

About this resource:

Systematic Review

Source: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force

Last Reviewed: May 2018

Workgroups: Cancer Workgroup

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends that men ages 55 to 69 years discuss the possible benefits and harms of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening with their health care provider and make an individualized decision about whether to get screened. USPSTF found evidence that PSA screening may slightly lower the chance of death from prostate cancer in some men. But USPSTF also found that many men are at risk of harms from screening, like false-positive test results that lead to more testing, as well as diagnosis of problems that wouldn’t have caused symptoms or death. In addition, USPSTF recommends against PSA-based screening for men age 70 years or older.

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Objectives related to this resource (2)

Reduce the prostate cancer death rate — C‑08
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of adults who get recommended evidence-based preventive health care — AHS‑08
Getting worse

Suggested Citation

1.

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. (2018). Prostate cancer: screening. Retrieved from https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/prostate-cancer-screening