PSA screening may be biased against obese men, leading to more aggressive cancers

Testing men for elevated levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood — the gold standard screening test for prostate cancer — may be biased against obese men, whose PSA levels tend to be deceptively low. And this bias may be creating more aggressive cancers in this population by delaying diagnosis, according to a new study led by investigators in the Duke Prostate Center and the Durham Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center.

The researchers published their findings online in the journal BJU International. The study was funded by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Institutes of Health, the Georgia Cancer Coalition, the United States Department of Defense, the Prostate Cancer Research Program and the American Urological Association Foundation’s Astellas Rising Star in Urology Award, given to Freedland.