Evaluation of PSA requests in men under 40 years of age

ABSTRACT

Objectives:

To evaluate the frequency of PSA requests in men under age 40 years; and to observe the possible influence of medical specialty of the requesting physician.

Material and method:

This is an observational, cross-sectional study using the database of a national clinical laboratory on PSA requests from October 1, 1997 until December 31, 2016. Descriptive statistics were used. The work was approved by the Ethics Committee of our institution.

Results:

2,514,375 PSA requests were evaluated, 158,399 (6.3%) in men younger than 40 years old. These percentages did not vary significantly when observed over time (1998-2016). The prevalence of requests for patients under 40 years of age, was 18.2% among general practitioners; 16.5% among cardiologists, 8.4% among geriatricians and 6.8% among urologists.

Conclusion:

There is a very high frequency of PSA requests in men with low probability of benefiting from the test. It is necessary to invest in the dissemination of best practices related to prostate cancer screening, especially among clinicians and cardiologists.

Key words:
prostate-specific antigen; mass screening; prostatic neoplasms; medical overuse