Older, low-income African American men less likely to be screened with PSA testing

Men who were older, low-income and African American are less likely to be screened for prostate cancer with PSA testing because they didn’t know about it, according to a review of 17 studies, says Marlo Vernon of the Medical College of Georgia.

Younger men tend to be more knowledgeable about screening and want to make decisions about it themselves independently, whereas older men are more reliant on their doctors for advice. “Clinicians should be aware of who may need a bit more guidance about PSA screening and help those patients through shared decision-making about it,” Vernon added.

• See “Prostate Cancer: Identifying Knowledge Gaps to Improve Care in African American Men” by Judith M. Orvis on the MedPage Today website (February 15, 2021)
  
  
• See abstract of scientific paper “Knowledge of prostate cancer among African American men: A systematic review” by Steven S. Coughlin et al.