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About this tool
Work out the age to start the PSA discussion from your risk factors and when the next conversation is due.
Prostate Screening Reminder Planner works out the age at which published guidance suggests starting the PSA conversation for your risk profile, and when the next discussion falls due. It applies the American Cancer Society risk tiers — age 50 at average risk, 45 for Black men or one first-degree relative diagnosed before 65, 40 for multiple affected relatives or a known BRCA variant — together with the ACS re-test rule of every two years below 2.5 ng/mL and yearly at or above it. It is a scheduling aid, not a recommendation for or against screening.
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Applies the published 40 / 45 / 50 tiers rather than one blanket age.
Uses the 2.5 ng/mL cut-off that separates the two-year and one-year re-test intervals.
Highlights that routine screening is not recommended from 70 and becomes an individual decision.
The American Cancer Society suggests age 50 for men at average risk with at least a 10-year life expectancy, 45 for those at high risk — Black men or with a father or brother diagnosed before 65 — and 40 for men with more than one such relative. The discussion is the recommendation, not the test itself.
Under the ACS interval rule, a PSA below 2.5 ng/mL is usually repeated every two years, and 2.5 ng/mL or above every year. Your clinician may choose differently based on PSA velocity, prostate volume, symptoms or medication such as finasteride.
The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends against routine PSA screening from age 70 (grade D), because the balance of benefits and harms turns unfavourable. It can still be reasonable for a healthy man with a long life expectancy, which is exactly the conversation to have with a doctor.
4.0 ng/mL has traditionally been the level at which further assessment is discussed, though there is no single safe cut-off and many men with lower values have cancer while many with higher values do not. Raised PSA is common with benign enlargement, infection or recent cycling — interpret it with a clinician, never from a web page.