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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Learning More About Prostate Cancer Screening Causes
Many Men to Opt Out
More knowledge seems to lead some to question
the value of PSA
By Becky Ham,
Science Writer
Health Behavior News Service
 Oct. 2, 2007 - When men get a little extra help in
understanding prostate cancer screening tests, they come away more
educated and confident about their choices. However, they might also be
less likely to go ahead with the tests, according to a closer look at
some recent studies.
More than 6,000 men took part in the studies, which
looked at the effects of decision aids such as pamphlets, videotaped
programs and Web sites that discussed the pros and cons of prostate
cancer screening.
Men who used the decision aids learned a lot,
became more assured of their screening choices and increased to their
desire to be active partners in decision-making, said Robert Volk,
Ph.D., of Baylor College of Medicine.
However, it appears that this greater knowledge
leads some patients to question the value of prostate cancer screening
and to decide against it, Volk and his colleagues write in the November
issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Decision aids can help people learn more about the
options and outcomes involved in a particular screening test or
treatment. In some cases, they encourage patients to think beyond the
facts of a treatment and consider how a procedure might affect their
daily lives or fit into their personal health goals.
The aids can be particularly important in cases
such as prostate cancer screening, since there is still some
disagreement over whether early detection methods such as the
prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test actually reduce prostate cancer
deaths.
The researchers found that the decision aids had
the greatest impact on men seeking routine care - they were
significantly less likely to go ahead with the PSA test after using the
aids. By contrast, patients already preparing for prostate screening
were not affected one way or another by having the extra information.
When prostate cancer was discovered later in some
of the men, they were much more likely to prefer watchful waiting to
more aggressive treatments after receiving the decision aids, Volk and
colleagues discovered.
Decision aids could help certain high-risk groups
such as African-Americans understand their personal risk of prostate
cancer, the researchers say.
In a June study from the University of Chicago,
William Dale, M.D., and colleagues found that African Americans were
more likely than their white counterparts were to have prostate cancer,
although they were less likely to believe they were at risk.
This belief may cause these men at highest risk
for prostate cancer to delay the pursuit of a diagnosis, Dale said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and
the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality supported the Volk study;
however, Volk said readers should not construe the findings as
representing an official position of the CDC or the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services.
Links to more SeniorJournal.com reports on
Prostate Cancer:
Cancer Cells Zapped by Electrical Impulses with Invention by Engineers
Clinical trials come next to test on prostate cancer victims
July 6, 2007
Researchers Say They
Have Found a Better Test for Prostate Cancer?
April 26, 2007
Proteins from Inflammation are 'Smoking Gun' in Spread of Prostate
Cancer
March 19, 2007
Obesity and
Prostate Cancer a Deadly Combination, Study Finds
March 15, 2007
Seniors May Increase Risk of Heart Disease from Prostate Cancer
Treatment
Feb. 26, 2007
Prostate Cancer
Patients Have High Survival Rates with Seed Implants
January 31, 2007
Radiation Therapy
Combo Cures Prostate Cancer Long-Term
January 4, 2007
Lack
of Sons Puts Men at Higher Risk for Prostate Cancer Says New Study
January 3, 2007
Elderly Men
Survive Prostate Cancer 'Significantly' Longer if Treated
December 22, 2006
Octogenarians Not Too Old for Cancer Surgery, Say Mayo Clinic
Researchers
November 27, 2006
Prostate
Cancer Studies Find Benefit to Radiation, No Harm in Testosterone
Replacement in Older Men
November 14, 2006
Prostate
Cancer Cells Killed by Protein Made by the Cancer
November 10, 2006
Researchers
Urge New Approach to Prostate Cancer Screening with Early PSA Base
November 1, 2006
Prostate Cancer Appears Cured in 89 Percent of Men Treated with IMRT
September 27, 2006
PSA of
Prostate Cancer Victims Can Predict How Long They Will Survive
August 25, 2006
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