Prevention Guideline Changes

Should we follow preventive guidelines recommended by a single source, or by our individual medical history? I heard on the news this week that the USPTF (United States Preventive Task Force) no longer recommends screening for prostate cancer with the PSA (prostate specific antigen) blood test in men aged over 75. I was shocked to hear that a few years ago it discontinued monthly self breast exams (SBE).

These are easy, cheap ways to screen for cancer. The breast exam you can even do yourself. For those who are unable to get mammogram the self breast exam can be helpful. As for the PSA it is felt that men usually don’t live much longer than 10 years after turning 75. In addition, it is felt that the cancer grows so slowly that the cause of death will be from something else. Then there are the side effects of cancer treatment in someone over 70.

This type of age discrimination in health care occurs much earlier, in the 60s. If you get too many illnesses too young in life, health discrimination may be seen earlier. Women have faced this forever. We are guesstimated to live longer lives these days, into the hundreds. Why stop screening for age, sex, or chronic illness? When we choose to do so, will the system allow this without extra cost to us for life saving tests that are so cheap? Bottom line – human individuality deserves custom made prevention plans based on personal and family medical history.

See the previous blog here (5/14/07) entitled “Missed Diagnosis”. Cancer is the most missed diagnosis! Cancer prevention tests are outlined in this blog. Decide what’s best for you and discuss it openly with your health care providers. Ask them what they would do for themselves. It is very important for us to learn as much as possible about wellness, disease prevention, and disease management.