• J Gen Intern Med · Jun 1996

    Comparative Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial

    The importance of patient preference in the decision to screen for prostate cancer. Prostate Patient Outcomes Research Team.

    • A B Flood, J E Wennberg, R F Nease, F J Fowler, J Ding, and L M Hynes.
    • Department of Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH 03755-3863, USA.
    • J Gen Intern Med. 1996 Jun 1; 11 (6): 342349342-9.

    ObjectiveRoutine screening for prostate cancer is controversial because of frequent false-positive results, the potential for slow, non-life-threatening growth of untreated cancer, the uncertainty regarding whether treatment can extend life, and the potential for treatment complications. This study examines how information about prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing and the uncertain benefits of treating prostate cancer affects patients' desire for PSA testing.DesignAn educational videotape designed to inform men about the uncertainty surrounding PSA screening and the treatment of early-stage prostate cancer was presented to two groups of male patients 50 years of age or older.SettingDartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.Patients/ParticipantsFor study 1, men seeking a free prostate cancer screening were preassigned to view the educational videotape (N = 184) or another videotape (N = 185). For study 2, men scheduled to visit a general internal medicine clinic viewed either the educational videotape (N = 103) or no videotape (N = 93).Measurements And Main ResultsThe men's information and preferences about prostate cancer screening and treatment and actual choice of PSA test at the next test opportunity were measured. Men who viewed the educational videotape were: better informed about PSA tests, prostate cancer, and its treatment; preferred no active treatment if cancer were found; and preferred not to be screened (all significant at p < or = .002 in both studies). Men viewing the educational video were less likely to have a PSA test (p = .041, study 2). This tendency was not significant at the free-PSA clinic (p = .079).ConclusionsPreference regarding cancer screening and treatment is greatly affected by information about medical uncertainties. Because informed patient choices vary. PSA screening decisions should incorporate individual preferences.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…