Men should get first PSA test at age 40

CHICAGO, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- It's recommended men get a prostate-specific antigen screening for their prostate at age 40, but physicians are not aware of this, a U.S. expert says.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Care Network recommends an initial PSA at age 40 for men of all races, and the frequency of subsequent PSA tests would then depend on the initial level.

The American Cancer Society says 1 man in 6 will get prostate cancer during his lifetime, and 1 in 35 will die of the disease.

In an editorial in the journal Cancer, Dr. Robert Nadler of Northwestern University wrote that most primary care physicians are not aware of guidelines to screen men at age 40 and a baseline PSA at age 40 serves as a starting point for determining risk.

Nadler said data from the 2002 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System shows 22.5 percent of men ages 40-49 had a PSA test the previous year, compared to 53.7 percent of men age 50 and older. More African-American men than Caucasian men were screened -- 33.6 percent versus 21.5 percent.