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QuickStats: Percentage of Men Aged >40 Years* with
Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) Levels of
>2.5 and >4.0 ng/mL, by Race/Ethnicity ---
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, United States, 2001--2004
* Men were excluded from PSA testing if they reported prostate cancer, current prostate infection, prostate biopsy,
or cystoscopy within the preceding 30 days or digital rectal examination within the preceding 7 days.
Although screening for prostate cancer using the PSA test is common, clinicians are divided over
whether the screening test is effective and whether a lower PSA threshold should be used to refer patients
for prostate biopsy to rule out cancer. A PSA level of
>4.0 ng/mL is the common threshold; however,
certain researchers have recommended lowering the level to
>2.5 ng/mL. During 2001--2004, approximately
6.2% (3.6 million) of men aged >40 years in the United States had a PSA level of
>4.0 ng/mL, and approximately 13.1% had a PSA of
>2.5 ng/mL. Differences among racial/ethnic groups tested were not
statistically significant.
SOURCES: Lacher DA, Thompson TD, Hughes JP, Saraiya M. Total, free, and percent free
prostate-specific antigen levels among U.S. men, 2001--04. Adv Data 2006;379. Available at
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad379.pdf.
Catalona WJ, Loeb S, Han M. Viewpoint: expanding prostate cancer screening. Ann Intern Med
2006;144:441--3.
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