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On April 12, 2017, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) issued a “draft recommendation” on prostate cancer screening using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing. These preliminary releases are made available briefly for public comment, which the USPSTF considers before publishing a final, formal statement. Because the draft recommendation received such widespread media publicity, it's worth a brief review.
In 2012, the USPSTF recommended against prostate cancer screening, giving it a “D” recommendation (NEJM JW Gen Med Jul 1 2012 and Ann Intern Med 2012; 157:120). Although the new draft statement retains the D grade for older men (age, ≥70), the recommendation for younger men (age range, 55–69) has been upgraded to “C.” A C gra…