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Older Men Over-Screened For Prostate Cancer

The December 3, 2003 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reports that too many men over the age of 75 are being screened for prostate cancer.

Lead researcher Dr. Siu-Long Yao of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and his team reviewed 7,889 men of all ages. 33% of those over 75 years old said they had undergone a PSA prostate test within the previous year.

The benefits of the test have yet to be proven in younger men, much less so in the older population. “There has been general agreement that men 75 years of older should not be screened,” says Yao. The reason? Men 75 or older usually die from something other than prostate cancer.

Performing the test in older men who do not need it could also cause unnecessary expense and anxiety, say the authors.

According to the study, even though 88% of the men reported that their doctors recommended the test, there was usually no compelling reason to do so.

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