A national survey of radiation oncologists and urologists on recommendations of prostate-specific antigen screening for prostate cancer - Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To assess recommendations for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening in a national survey of radiation oncologists and urologists following the recent U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) grade D recommendation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A random sample of 1,366 radiation oncologists and urologists were identified from the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile. Through November 2011 to April 2012, a mail survey was sent to query PSA screening recommendations for men at average risk of PC for the following age groups: 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-74, 75-79 and > 80 years. Multivariable logistic regression was used to test for differences in PSA-based screening recommendations by physician characteristics.

RESULTS: Response rates were similar at 52% for radiation oncologists and urologists (p=0.92). Overall, 51.5% of respondents recommended PSA-based screening for 40-49 year old men, while nearly all endorsed it for men 50-74 years (96.1% for 50-59, 97.3% for 60-69, and 87.7% for 70-74 years). However, screening recommendations decreased to 43.9% and 12.8% for 75-79 and > 80 year old men, respectively. On multivariable analysis, urologists were more likely to recommend screening for patients aged 40-49 (OR: 3.09; p< 0.001) and 50-59 (OR: 3.81; p=0.01) years, but less likely for patients 75-79 (OR: 0.66; p=0.01) and > 80 (OR: 0.45; p=0.002) years compared with radiation oncologists.

CONCLUSIONS: While radiation oncologists and urologists recommended PSA screening for men between 50-69 years of age, there was less agreement about screening for younger (40-49 years old) and older (>70 years old) patients at average risk for prostate cancer.

Written by:
Kim SP, Karnes RJ, Nguyen PL, Ziegenfuss JY, Thompson RH, Han LC, Shah ND, Smaldone MC, Gross CP, Frank I, Weight CJ, Beebe TJ, Tilburt JC.   Are you the author?
Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Urology, New Haven, Connecticut.

Reference: BJU Int. 2013 Aug 23. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1111/bju.12422


PubMed Abstract
PMID: 24053213

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