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No evidence shows benefit, nor does an official recommendation exist, for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing in men older than 75; nonetheless, testing continues to be performed in many older men. In this study, researchers used Texas Medicare data to assess PSA testing in 61,351 older men (age, ≥75) who were seen in 2010 by 1963 primary care physicians; each physician saw at least 20 such patients.
Overall, 29% of patients had PSA screening tests ordered by their physicians; the rate ranged from 50% (among physicians who ordered PSA tests with significantly above-average frequency) to 6% (among physicians who ordered with significantly below-average frequency). PSA test–ordering behavior, as opposed to patient characteristics, explaine…