Search Results for "psa screening"
CBS promotes “essential/critical” screening tests but never mentions over-diagnosis
The following is a guest blog post by Alan Cassels, a pharmaceutical policy researcher at the University of Victoria and the author of Seeking Sickness: Medical Screening and the Misguided Hunt for Disease (Greystone, 2012). The opinions are his; you are welcome to your own. —————————- While the Beatles might have famously sang that “All you […]
1/5/2015Alan Cassels guest blog post: PSA test – good myths die hard
Alan Cassels, who is a pharmaceutical policy researcher at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, a journalist, and author of the books “Seeking Sickness” and “The ABCs of Disease Mongering”, sent in this unsolicited guest blog post. Soon, we hope to solicit more pieces from Cassels. Matthew Tully wrote on the Indy Star website on December 16th, […]
2 6/27/2014The long list of warnings about community screening programs is getting longer
Otis Brawley, MD, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society has said: “Many of these free screening things are designed more to get patients for hospitals and clinics and doctors than they are to benefit the patients. That’s a huge ethical issue that needs to be addressed.” Three authors, including the executive vice president […]
12/4/2013Guys Night Out: big-screen football, free sandwiches and prostate screenings
KSBW-TV in Monterey found it newsworthy to copy a local hospital’s news release and to promote its “Guys Night Out” prostate screening event on the night the San Francisco 49ers played the Washington Redskins. The news release from the hospital’s marketing department says “The event is open to men 45-70 who have not been diagnosed […]
NBC races the clock in a race to the bottom with anchormen & prostate cancer screening promotion
It was not the peacock’s finest hour. Or even their finest 34 seconds. Last week, NBC Today show anchors Matt Lauer and Al Roker had digital rectal exams (out of view, behind closed doors) on live TV. Lauer and the network announced that “The live event is part of No-Shave November, TODAY’s initiative to raise […]
1 10/22/2013When doctors don’t discuss harms of screening tests with patients
Another important paper in the JAMA Internal Medicine “Less is More” series. “Overdiagnosis and Overtreatment: Evaluation of What Physicians Tell Their Patients About Screening Harms,” is by one of my risk communication gurus, Gerd Gigerenzer and colleague Odette Wegwarth. They surveyed 317 US men and women aged 50-69 years, a population with the highest exposure to […]
2 10/15/2013Shuffle off to Buffalo for another questionable prostate screening promotion
By now, any health care consumer with a pulse knows about the tradeoffs involved in prostate cancer screening. It must have reached most corners of the US that mass prostate cancer screening is not recommended by: the US Preventive Services Task Force the American College of Physicians: “Doctors should inform men aged 50 to 69 […]
7/11/2013Shared decision-making for prostate cancer screening? Fuhgeddaboudit!
The news, unfortunately, is that there’s nothing new here. “Shared decision-making uncommon for PSA tests,” Reuters Health reports. Excerpts: “Most men have not discussed the potential advantages and disadvantages of prostate cancer screening with their doctor, according to a new study. Guidelines from groups including the American Urological Association and American College of Physicians call […]
12 5/3/2013“Radical change” – American Urological Association stops recommending routine PSA tests
On Twitter, Liz Szabo of USA Today asks, “Is this the end of the PSA?” She was referring to new clinical guidelines released by the American Urological Association. She reported: “In a major break from the past, a leading medical group is advising men to think carefully before getting getting screened for prostate cancer. The […]
6 1/15/2013Doctors who order PSA blood test without discussing it with patients
A new analysis published in the Annals of Family Medicine,”Primary Care Physicians’ Use of an Informed Decision-Making Process for Prostate Cancer Screening,” found that 24% of primary care physicians who responded to a survey said they ordered screening without discussing it with patients. How’s that for shared decision-making? Fewer than 48% of those surveyed said […]
10/26/2012Does “CBS Cares” care about evidence-based screening recommendations?
We break from Pink Month for a moment to turn to prostates. CBS certainly is – with several spots in its “CBS Cares” campaign. If CBS cares so much, perhaps it could introduce some shared decision-making messages into its campaign instead of its imbalanced, heavy-handed, non-evidence-based promotion of prostate cancer screening. A friend who admits […]
6 10/11/2012PrivateHealthScreening: What to Think About When You’re Thinking About Screening Tests
In the Guardian newspaper, UK physician and writer Margaret McCartney wrote, “Private health screening tests are oversold and under-explained: Health screening can cause more harm than it prevents, so companies have a duty to provide full information to customers.” In the article, she introduced a new website called PrivateHealthScreening.org. She writes that: “…out of frustration […]
Study: PSA Testing Cuts Worst Prostate Cancers
Better than HealthDay’s story and TIME.com’s story because it at least took a stab at independent analysis of the evidence.
Study: PSA Testing Cuts Worst Prostate Cancers
Prostate Cancer Screening: Why Can’t Doctors Agree?
Too little time spent on the weaknesses of a statistical modeling study. Independent expert analysis would have helped.
Prostate Cancer Screening: Why Can’t Doctors Agree?
Screening tests a focus of this year’s Rocky Mountain Workshop on Evidence-Based Health Care
I’m off to the Rockies next week to speak at and participate in The Rocky Mountain Workshop on How to Practice Evidence-Based Health Care at the invitation of Dr. Andy Oxman of the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services in Oslo. This is the 14th annual workshop but this will be my first. I’ve […]
