[Use of prostatic specific antigen in primary care (PSA)]

Area of Science:

• Urology
• Primary Care Medicine
• Medical Diagnostics

Background:

• Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing is sometimes misused in clinical practice.
• Guidelines for appropriate PSA testing, considering patient age and frequency, are not always followed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the current use of PSA testing by primary care physicians.
• To analyze factors influencing PSA testing, including patient age and physician beliefs.
• To compare PSA testing practices and beliefs between physicians with and without sufficient knowledge.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive and comparative study utilizing questionnaires distributed to primary care doctors.
• Statistical analysis, including the Chi-squared test, was used to compare groups.

Main Results:

• 83.5% of physicians reported sufficient PSA knowledge, yet this group ordered tests more frequently and at earlier ages.
• Physicians with less knowledge requested PSA at older ages and expressed more doubts about its utility.
• Nearly 30% of physicians believe PSA is unhelpful in cancer diagnosis, and 28% would never order it without urinary symptoms.

Conclusions:

• A significant portion of primary care physicians express doubts about PSA's utility in prostate cancer diagnosis.
• Inconsistent PSA testing practices, including frequency and patient selection, were observed.
• Physicians lacking sufficient PSA knowledge exhibited less appropriate testing patterns and lower perceived utility of the marker.