Men’s Perception of Being Invited for Prostate Cancer Testing and the Information About Its Pros and Cons—A Survey from Two Population-based Testing Programmes

BACKGROUND: There is no national screening programme for prostate cancer in Sweden. Instead, population-based organised prostate cancer testing (OPT) projects are introduced to make information and testing more equal and effective. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate men’s perception of being invited to OPT and of the information in the invitation letter, and whether their perception is influenced by educational level. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A questionnaire was sent out to men invited to OPT in 2020: 600 50-yr-old men in Region Västra Götaland and 1000 50-, 56-, and 62-yr-old men in Region Skåne. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Responses were evaluated on a Likert scale. The chi-square test was used to compare proportions. RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: A total of 534 men (34%) responded. Almost all considered the OPT concept as very good (84%) or good (13%). Among men not previously undergone a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, a larger proportion with nonacademic (53%) than with academic education (41%) responded that the text about disadvantages was very clear (p = 0.03). A similar difference was observed for the text about advantages (68% vs 58%, p = 0.09). There was no association between education and searching for more information elsewhere. The low response rate is the main limitation. CONCLUSIONS: Almost all responding men evaluating the invitation letter for OPT were positive about making a personal decision regarding whether or not to have a PSA test. Most were content with the brief information. Men with academic education were somewhat less likely to find the information very clear. This shows a need for further research about how best to describe the advantages and disadvantages of prostate cancer testing. PATIENT SUMMARY: Almost all men who responded to a questionnaire to evaluate the invitation letter for organised prostate cancer testing were positive about the opportunity to make a personal decision regarding whether or not to have a prostate-specific antigen test.