Guardian corrects article about GPs refusing to give prostate cancer tests to black men

GPs refused to give prostate cancer tests to one in four black men in UK

1 in 4 Black men blocked from prostate cancer tests

Following contact from Full Fact, the charity Prostate Cancer Research (PCR) has corrected a press statement incorrectly claiming that a poll it conducted showed that one in four black men had been obstructed from getting prostate cancer tests by a GP. The Guardian has also substantially changed its article about the research.

In fact PCR’s poll asked black adults about “you or a loved one”, meaning the number doesn’t represent the proportion of black men themselves who had this experience. It doesn't even show for sure that any of the people it happened to were black, since the respondents may have been answering on behalf of a loved one of another ethnicity.

Following contact from Full Fact, PCR corrected its statement to say: “Despite being at twice the risk for prostate cancer compared to white men, almost a quarter of Black men who said they or a loved one had attempted to get tested in the past year said they were not able to get one, with many reporting being obstructed by a GP.”

The Guardian corrected its article, and added a note saying: “An earlier version said that the Prostate Cancer Research report had found that ‘one in four black men in the UK’ had been ‘refused a prostate cancer test by their GP’. This was not a finding supported by the underlying survey results and has been removed. Also, text has been amended to note that the report surveyed 1,000 black men and 1,000 black women, not ‘2,000 black men’; and to add additional context regarding the Nice guidelines on prostate cancer screening.”

This claim was found with the help of Full Fact’s AI tools, which we use to monitor claims from politicians, the media and social media users at scale. These tools will now look out for any repetitions of the claim.

Charities and the media should take care to describe research findings accurately, so that people are not misled about the standard of healthcare they can expect.

Oliver Kemp, the CEO of PCR, told us: “We are grateful to Full Fact for bringing this to our attention. It is vital that PCR is a credible organisation and therefore we have revised our process to ensure that all the questions are completely clear and that the data is triple checked and interpreted correctly in the future.”

What the survey asked

According to PCR’s report, 2,000 black adults, half of them men and half women, were asked in March: “In the past year, have you or a loved one requested a prostate cancer test at your GP?” To which 22% said yes, amounting to about 440 people.

Of these people, 24% said they or the loved one then didn’t get the test, amounting to about 106 people. And of these, 22% (about 23 people) said it was because the GP said it wasn’t necessary, and about 10% (about 11 people) said it was because the GP refused to give them or their loved one the test. 

Altogether, this means that about 34, or 1.7%, of all the black adults in the survey said they or one of their loved ones had requested a prostate cancer test in the last year and had been unable to get one either because their request had been refused by a GP, or they were told by a GP it wasn’t necessary. Respondents could also choose other reasons why they or their loved one did not get the test, including “I/they couldn’t get an appointment”, “I cancelled as I was nervous about seeing healthcare professionals”, “I couldn’t travel to the surgery” and “I had to cancel the appointment as I couldn’t get time off work”.

We don’t know whether survey respondents were answering for themselves or their loved ones, so we don’t know the ethnicity of the people who had this experience.

We have not seen the data broken down by the gender of the respondents, but PCR told us that the answers to these questions from men specifically were the basis for its corrected claim that “almost a quarter of black men who said they or a loved one had attempted to get tested in the past year said they were not able to get one”.

What is prostate cancer?

Prostate cancer develops in the prostate gland in the pelvis, which is part of the male reproductive system. It is the most common cancer in men in the UK and, while the risk depends on many factors, it is more common in older men and black men. So it is perfectly understandable that many men, and black men in particular, may want to get tested.

According to the NHS, symptoms that can sometimes be a sign of prostate cancer include:

• an increased need to pee
• straining while you pee
• a feeling that your bladder has not fully emptied

For men with these symptoms, the NHS says: “These symptoms should not be ignored, but they do not mean you have prostate cancer. It's more likely they're caused by something else, such as prostate enlargement.”

Why some men might not to get a test

Testing for prostate cancer is less straightforward than testing for many other diseases. One common procedure is a PSA test, which measures the level of prostate-specific antigen (or PSA) in someone’s blood.

A raised PSA level is associated with prostate cancer, but it is far from a reliable sign that someone has it. Indeed, in about 75% of cases, further tests reveal that they don’t. Moreover, when someone is tested and doesn’t have a raised PSA level, it turns out that they do have prostate cancer about 15% of the time.

In other words, it is possible for a PSA test to do more harm than good, if it causes someone to worry and undergo procedures that they don’t need—or if it wrongly makes them think they don’t have prostate cancer when they do.

This is why there is currently no prostate cancer screening programme in the UK, although PCR campaigns to introduce one for black men, and alternative ways to design a programme may be shown to be effective in future. 

Men aged 50 or over can ask their GP for a PSA test, even if they do not have symptoms.

Azeem Majeed, Professor of Primary Care and Public Health at Imperial College, London and a practising GP, told us: “In my own general practice, when men ask for a PSA test, we will have a discussion about the pros and cons of testing. We will also supply them with links to some further information about PSA testing. 

“After this, they can book a test if they still want one. No one is refused a test but we aim to ensure that men are aware of the risks of the test as well as the benefits.”