Values in Care

    PSA screening for prostate cancer, ages 55 to 69

    Whether to have periodic PSA blood testing to screen for prostate cancer.

    Men aged 55 to 69 without a prostate cancer diagnosis. The Task Force recommends against PSA-based screening at 70 and older.

    The Task Force states the decision should be an individual one, made after discussing benefits and harms with a clinician, and that clinicians should not screen men who do not express a preference for screening.

    The options

    Have periodic PSA screening

    A blood test repeated at intervals, with follow-up testing and possible biopsy if a result is abnormal.

    • Screening programs may prevent about 1.3 deaths from prostate cancer over about 13 years per 1000 men screened.

      Applies to: Men aged 55 to 69 in randomized screening trials.

    • Screening programs may prevent about 3 cases of metastatic prostate cancer per 1000 men screened.

      Applies to: Men aged 55 to 69 in randomized screening trials.

    • Harms include frequent false-positive results that require additional testing and possible prostate biopsy.

      Applies to: Men screened with PSA testing.

    • Harms include psychological harm, overdiagnosis, and overtreatment.

      Applies to: Men screened with PSA testing.

    • About 1 in 5 men who undergo radical prostatectomy develop long-term urinary incontinence.

      Applies to: Men who go on to have radical prostatectomy, not all men screened.

    • About 2 in 3 men who undergo radical prostatectomy experience long-term erectile dysfunction.

      Applies to: Men who go on to have radical prostatectomy, not all men screened.

    Do not have PSA screening for now

    No PSA test now. You can pick it up again at a later visit.

    • Screening offers a small potential benefit of reducing the chance of death from prostate cancer in some men. Not screening forgoes it.

      Applies to: Men aged 55 to 69.

    • The harms the Task Force attributes to screening are false-positive results requiring further testing and possible biopsy, overdiagnosis, overtreatment, and treatment complications. Not screening avoids them.

      Applies to: Men aged 55 to 69.

    • Many men with prostate cancer never experience symptoms and, without screening, would never know they have the disease.

      Applies to: Men with prostate cancer in the US.

    Set against what matters to you

    Read from what you saved on this device.

    Speaks to what matters to you

    Nothing yet. Mark what matters to you, and anything the sources say about it shows up here.

    Pulls in two directions

    Nothing so far pulls against anything else.

    Still unknown

    • Nothing is marked as a priority yet, so nothing here is connected to what matters to you. The options and their sources are still readable below.

      Not in the sources here.

    • How each man weighs the specific benefits and harms determines whether the overall net benefit is small for him.

      US Preventive Services Task Force, 2018 statement

    • African American men and men with a family history of prostate cancer have an increased risk of prostate cancer compared with other men.

      US Preventive Services Task Force, 2018 statement

    • What the evidence review found for those higher-risk groups is not carried in this record. Read the statement itself, or ask a clinician.

      Not in the sources here.

    • This record carries the 2018 statement's own summary. It does not carry test intervals, what a particular practice offers, or cost and coverage.

      Not in the sources here.

    Worth asking

    • Given my family history, race or ethnicity, other health conditions, and what I want, is screening appropriate for me?
    • If a PSA result came back abnormal, what would happen next, and what could I still decide at that point?
    • If cancer were found, what treatment-specific outcomes should I understand before deciding anything?
    Start with what matters

    Sources

    • US Preventive Services Task Force. Screening for Prostate Cancer: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement. JAMA. 2018;319(18):1901-1913.

      https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.3710

      Read 2026-09-11 from the PubMed record (structured abstract of the version of record).

    Each statement above paraphrases one of these sources closely. Filing it under a priority is our editorial choice.