Researchers warn doctors could be ‘overtesting’ for prostate cancer

Doctors are “overtesting” men for prostate cancer and not targeting “those most likely to benefit,” researchers have warned.

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK, affecting 55,300 men a year, but prostate-specific antigen testing (PSA) is only routinely recommended for men with certain symptoms.

This type of testing remains controversial because it has led to an increased number of healthy men being diagnosed and treated unnecessarily for harmless tumours, which can lead to erectile dysfunction or incontinence, according to Prostate Cancer UK.

Researchers at the University of Oxford, in a study of more than 10 million men in England, aimed to find out how PSA tests are used.

The study, published by the BMJ, highlights that there is a lack of consistent guidance and many patients are tested more frequently than recommended, even patients without recorded symptoms.

The major concern raised in this study “is that unregulated PSA testing will result in large costs and harms and increase the incidence of prostate cancer likely to remain undetected, while doing little to identify prostate cancer most likely to cause symptoms and death”.

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Source: The Independent, 8 October 2025