Effect of Prostate Cancer Screening with Prostate-specific Antigen Testing on Long-term Prostate Cancer-specific Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Eur UrolMay 5, 2026 (epub)
David-Dan Nguyen, Borna Tadayon Najafabadi, Lauren Lin et al.
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In 30 seconds
This systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials evaluated the impact of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening on prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM) in 721,607 participants aged 45-80 years. The analysis found that PSA-based screening significantly reduced the risk of PCSM at the longest follow-up (p < 0.001), providing high-certainty evidence for its benefit.
Key findings
- PSA-based screening reduced the risk of PCSM at the longest follow-up with high certainty.
- The analysis included 5 RCTs with follow-up durations of 11-23 years.
- Greater relative reductions in PCSM were observed with longer follow-up.
- Control-arm contamination likely underestimated the benefit of screening.
Why it matters
Understanding the long-term effects of PSA screening on prostate cancer mortality is crucial for clinicians to make informed decisions about screening practices and to discuss potential benefits and harms with patients.