Warning over rapid at-home prostate tests

t-home tests for men worried about prostate cancer can give inconsistent and inaccurate results, BBC News has found.

The tests, which resemble a Covid lateral flow strip, turn positive if a high level of a protein called PSA is detected in a drop of blood.

Of five rapid tests analysed by the BBC, one did not work, three were negative or all-clear, but one returned a false positive result - all from the same blood sample.

Prostate Cancer UK said it had significant concerns about the sale of the tests given their "questionable accuracy" and the absence of a doctor to interpret the results.

There is no national prostate cancer screening programme in the UK, unlike for breast, bowel and cervical cancer.

Instead, the onus is on men to request a blood test from their GP once they are over 50 years old, external, or from 45 for higher risk groups.

That NHS test, which is processed in a laboratory, measures the level of PSA released by the prostate, a small gland involved in the production of semen.

A high PSA level does not mean you have cancer but is a warning sign which can then lead to further scans and tests to rule out the disease.

Dozens of companies now sell self-testing kits designed to measure PSA levels.

The UK medicines regulator, the MHRA, says in its guidance that over-the-counter PSA kits are "not a reliable indicator of prostate cancer" and must not "claim to detect cancer".

"As your experience shows, these rapid tests appear to have questionable accuracy," says Amy Rylance, assistant director of health improvement at Prostate Cancer UK.

"That's a big problem because they can falsely reassure people who really do have elevated levels of PSA and should seek further testing, or they can cause undue worry among people who are absolutely fine."

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Source: BBC News, 5 March 2025