Swedish Study Suggest Link Between Prostate Cancer and Family History Could Be Exaggerated

The controversial debate on PSA testing possibly causing more harm than good continues as results of a new Swedish study suggests that the risk of men who have a known family history of prostate cancer could possibly be inflated, since these men are more apt to get tested and diagnosed for this disease.

The prostate-specific antigen test began being used in the 1990′s. Males who had brothers and fathers who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer were the most likely to have the test. Researchers wanted to investigate if the increases in diagnostic testing are possibly linked to the incidence of this cancer among the brothers of males who have the disease.

Researchers found that men who had a father or brother with prostate cancer were at a higher risk for being diagnosed with prostate cancer than men of the same age. The risk was even higher among men with two brothers who have prostate cancer. The researchers also found that the cancer that was detected was in its early stages, which is usually diagnosed with a PSA test and that the brother’s diagnosis’s was the highest during the first year after the relative had been diagnosed. It also showed that the rate was highest with brothers who had a higher status both socially and economically.

The study results suggest to researchers that because men who had a close male relative with prostate cancer were more likely to have been PSA tested and resulted in the possible exaggeration of the link between prostate cancer and family history.