A study of PSA requests from general practitioners received by one Dublin hospital

Patterns of PSA requesting by General Practitioners were studied in one Dublin hospital for 11/1994-8/1995 and 11/1996-8/1997. 58% of requests (421/723) had PSA < 2ug/L and 82% had PSA < 4ug/L. Patients under 60 years accounted for 32% of the total requests but only 7% of these showed PSA levels over 4ug/L. PSA requests on these younger patients constitute a significant proportion of the PSA workload and yet appear to have low diagnostic yield. The mean age for all patients studied dropped from 68 years in 1994/1995 to 63 years in 1996/1997. This may reflect an increasing tendency to test all men over 50 years of age. This review of PSA requesting within our hospital's catchment area supports the view that PSA testing is not focused on higher risk individuals and shows tendencies towards a screening approach.