TOPLINE

Men who completed an interactive electronic visit that provided personalized estimates of the likelihood of elevated levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) based on age and race and ethnicity were more likely to request screening than those who only received information on general pros and cons.

METHODOLOGY

• A stratified, randomized quality improvement study tested two web-based e-visit versions for prostate cancer screening at Kaiser Permanente Northern California.
• Participants either had an informational virtual visit on the pros and cons of prostate cancer screening or an interactive e-visit in which they provided data on age, race, and ethnicity to receive personalized estimates on the likelihood of elevated PSA levels.
• Both e-visits required participants to confirm that they were free from urinary symptoms that could falsely elevate PSA levels before proceeding; automated emails containing links to participate in the e-visit were sent over a six-month period starting in February 2024.
• The primary endpoint measured whether members made an explicit decision to request or decline PSA testing; secondary outcomes were completion of the e-visit and requesting a PSA test.

TAKEAWAY

• Overall, 3200 men aged 50-69 years (Black men aged 45-69 years) with no prior diagnosis of prostate cancer were eligible for either intervention.
• Among the 506 men who opened an e-visit link, 93.3% made a decision regarding PSA testing.
• White men had the highest rate of e-visit completion at 18.5%, whereas Black men had the lowest at 13.1%. Men aged 60-69 years had a higher completion rate than men aged 50-59 years (18.8% vs 15.4%; P = .045).
• Among participants who completed an e-visit, a higher proportion of those who completed the interactive e-visit made a decision regarding screening and requested a PSA test than the other group (P = .008).

IN PRACTICE

“The use of an e-visit may provide adequate information to some men regarding prostate cancer screening. While uptake of the current e-visit is relatively low, optimization of this approach may ensure some interaction regarding screening takes place and may be able to relieve a portion of this burden from PCPs [primary care providers] while reducing barriers to prostate cancer screening for many men,” wrote the authors.

SOURCE

The study was led by Joseph Presti Jr, MD, of the Department of Urology at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California in San Francisco. It was published online on July 8, 2026, in The Journal of Urology.

LIMITATIONS

The researchers also did not account for multiple comparisons.

DISCLOSURES

The Permanente Medical Group’s Delivery Science and Applied Research program provided support for this project. The authors reported having no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.