Today, the AUA was joined by eight Sections, 10 subspecialty societies, and two patient advocacy groups in responding to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) Draft Recommendation Statement on Screening for Prostate Cancer. The AUA letter collectively represented organizations representing more than 15,000 urologists, more than 200 physician assistants in urology, more than 2,000 urologic nurses and associates, and hundreds of thousands of individuals impacted by prostate cancer in the United States. A copy of the letter is available here.
While we applaud the USPSTF for recognizing the need for an individualized approach to prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening and for including high-risk populations the draft recommendation, our comment letter highlights some key areas where we feel the document could be strengthened, including:
- Incorporation of shared decision-making into recommendations for some healthy men over age 70, as well as younger men with a greater risk of developing prostate cancer (e.g., positive family history or African American race).
- Consideration that an “I” rating may be a more reasonable recommendation for men over age 70, as research on the benefits of screening this population is lacking.
- Inclusion of up-to-date (within the past 10 years) citations regarding mortality and complication rates associated with the active treatment of prostate cancer to more accurately reflect modern treatment modalities.
The USPSTF is expected to release its final recommendation later this year.
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