The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), updating its 2002 report, added that more evidence is needed to determine if men under 75 could benefit from screening.
Most major U.S. medical groups recommend doctors discuss the potential benefits and known harms of the prostate screening, or PSA test, with their patients and make individual decisions. Measurement of PSA in the blood can detect prostate cancer before symptoms develop. Some abnormal PSA levels may require prostate biopsy to see if cancer is actually present.
While the PSA tests are effective for detecting disease, the Task Force found that there is insufficient evidence that they improve long-term health outcomes. And most doctors also agree such testing shouldn't occur before age 50.
Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States, affecting one in six men.
The new guidelines from the Preventive Services Task Force were published in this month's Annals of Internal Medicine.
