UK Weighs Prostate Screening After ERSPC Update

UK health officials, including the National Screening Committee, are reviewing whether to introduce an NHS prostate cancer screening programme and are expected to decide before the end of the year. A New England Journal of Medicine update of the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) followed 162,000 men across eight countries for 23 years and found PSA screening produced a sustained 13% reduction in prostate cancer deaths. The study reported one death prevented for every 456 men invited and one death averted for every 12 men diagnosed, and authors said the number needed to invite fell from 628 to 456 and the number needed to diagnose fell from 18 to 12. Researchers cautioned that harms — unnecessary testing, biopsies, overdiagnosis and overtreatment that can cause impotence or incontinence — remain a critical concern and advocate for a targeted screening strategy to identify subgroups most likely to benefit. The new evidence has intensified public and political calls for a national programme, and officials will weigh these results alongside the risks of overdiagnosis before making their recommendation.