Could PSA testing lead to overdiagnosis, thus unnecessarily subjecting men to the harms of treatment? The AUA supports prostate screening in men aged 40 years and older. Yet the EAU does not recommend mass screening. Is more public awareness is responsible for more public demand for the PSA test in USA than in Europe?

Team@CMHF

The United States has enthusiastically supported prostate cancer screening, whereas European Association of Urology (EAU) have concluded that using the PSA test for prostate cancer (PCa) detection remains controversial.

The differences are driven by the urologists’ interpretation of the expert guideline recommendations, the role of prostate cancer awareness in the public, medical and economic concerns and interests of the urologists, and also to a great extent by patient demand as a result of public awareness.

The Europeans from the start recognized the lack of evidence for screening—and the potential harms. In the USA, there is much more public awareness about prostate cancer through celebrity prostate cancer cases, prostate cancer support groups, public fundraising events, and television advertisements from pharmaceutical companies than there is in the European Union (EU).

Both guidelines of AUA and EAU panels concluded as recently as 2009, that there is, to date, no evidence-based clinical data showing a survival benefit for a population-based PSA screening program for all men in a given population.

Reference: http://www.renalandurologynews.com/psa-testing-why-the-us-and-europe-differ/article/212312/