Individual and Socioeconomic Affecting Factors for Prostate Cancer Screening Behavior

Abstract

There has been much controversy about the effectiveness of prostate cancer (PC) screening in the treatment of PC. Recently, with the increase in advanced and metastatic PCs, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening is again emphasized. However, no systematic study has examined the factors influencing PSA screening behavior. This study highlights the importance of socioeconomic factors, such as income, education, marital status, insurance status, and medical accessibility, in PC screening behavior. We conducted a search for articles related to PSA screening through Cochrane, Embase, and PubMed, and we chose 40 articles. And we divided factors associated with PSA screening into two groups, such as individual characteristic factors and socioeconomic factor. In addition to identifying individual factors that could affect both medical providers and patients, this review will also highlight the importance of socioeconomic factors including income, education, marital status, insurance status, and medical accessibility affecting PC screening behavior. Future guidelines should integrate these socioeconomic factors, particularly for patients with unfavorable socioeconomic status.