Variability in PSA Levels During Prostate Cancer Screening

The American Urological Association (AUA) recommends that men with elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels on screening undergo repeat testing “a few months” later, before being referred to a urologist for further evaluation. This recommendation reflects the fact that PSA levels can fluctuate over relatively short to intermediate timeframes.

In this study, researchers examined how often PSA levels above commonly used thresholds (4.0 and 3.0 ng/mL) drop to below those thresholds by the next annual screening. They used data from 11,000 men in the PLCO screening trial (age range, 54–75) who were screened annually for up to 6 years and were not diagnosed with prostate cancer during the trial.