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Biden Has Prostate Cancer. Should You Get Tested?
One of the trickiest topics in epidemiology.
Joe Biden has just been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Many people are now wondering if they should also get tested for the disease, which is very treatable if you start early. You can also test for prostate cancer with a very simple blood test, so it seems like a no brainer to go and get some pathology done.
Here’s why the decision is much more complicated than it might first appear.
Screening Is Hard
In the world of epidemiology, there are a few major fights over evidence. There’s the question of whether countries should mandate bicycle helmets, or the discussion about the benefits of breastfeeding, or the endless battle over whether vaping is the newest way to get kids hooked on cigarettes or a fantastic strategy to help adults quit.
One of the longest-running and hardest to answer questions is pretty simple: who should be screened for cancer? It seems like a very easy thing to answer, and most people would automatically just say “everyone at risk”. If we catch cancer early it is usually far more treatable, and screening is often quite low-cost, so it feels like a win-win to just test every person who could possibly have a case of cancer for the disease.
