Prostate Cancer Awareness Week, 1992: a summary of key findings

Prostate Cancer Awareness Week was begun in 1989 to investigate whether men could be recruited to participate in free prostate cancer screening. Initially designed to raise public awareness of "the ignored male disease", it has become the largest single cancer screening program in the United States. In 1992, more than 500,000 men were examined by digital rectal examination (DRE) and more than half of these also by measuring prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Although the populations examined have been generally better educated than the national average, predominantly white, and typically (> 40%) experiencing some symptom of prostate disease, adherence to annual prostate examinations remains low among successive cohorts of participants. Prostate cancers detected through this program exhibit a more favorable stage distribution than the national average. From 1989 through 1992, many cancers were detected by using the effective combination of DRE and PSA testing, which resulted in more stage A disease being diagnosed and fewer stage B, C, and D tumors. Data from 1992 suggest that increasing sophistication is possible with PSA test results, and age-specific PSA reference ranges have been developed.