Apples for Health- Some men 75 and over may not need PSA

Some men 75 and over may not need PSA

BALTIMORE, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Certain men age 75-80 are unlikely to benefit from routine prostate specific antigen testing, U.S. researchers said.

The study, scheduled to be published in the April issue of The Journal of Urology, found that men in this age group with PSA levels less than 3 nanograms per milliliter are unlikely to die of or experience aggressive prostate cancer during their remaining life -- suggesting that the use of PSA testing in many older men may no longer be needed.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the National Institute on Aging's Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging reviewed data from 849 men -- 122 with prostate cancer and 727 without prostate cancer -- participating in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging and who had undergone regular PSA testing.

The researchers found that among men who were age 75 and over with PSA levels less than 3 nanograms per milliliter, none died of prostate cancer and only one developed high-risk prostate cancer.

By contrast, men of all ages with a PSA level of 3 nanograms per milliliter or greater had a continually rising probability of dying from prostate cancer.

If confirmed by future studies, these results may help determine more specific guidelines for when PSA-based screening might be safely discontinued, lead investigator Dr. Edward Schaeffer said.