The rate of early stage prostate cancer has fallen in recent years , and experts believe that may be due to fewer screenings, according to a newly published study.
In 2008, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended against prostate cancer screening for men 75 or older, and as a result, the rate of first- or second-stage cancer (known as T1 and T2), fell 25.4 percent.
Researcher David Howard of Emory University, in Atlanta, also said there was a 14.3 percent decline in the number of T3 and T4 cases.
"Over the last decade, the evidence that screening for prostate cancer causes more harm than good has grown,” Mitchell Katz, M.D. of the Los Angeles Department of Health Services. His analysis accompanied the study results, which were published in the “Archives of Internal Medicine.”
Katz also argued against screening for younger men, saying that the negative results of such procedures, including false positives and erectile dysfunction, outweigh the benefits.
