Insufficient Evidence for Routine Bladder Cancer Screening

In an update to its 2004 guidance on screening for bladder cancer, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has changed its recommendation from a D (lack of evidence) to an I (insufficient evidence) statement, finding inadequate data to support disease screening for asymptomatic adults or for adults with mild lower urinary tract symptoms such as urinary frequency, hesitancy, urgency, dysuria, or nocturia. According to the report, the current evidence does not adequately demonstrate that such screening results in improved disease-specific morbidity or mortality for either group of patients. The evidence regarding the diagnostic accuracy of potential tests (urinalysis for microscopic hematuria, urine cytology, or tests for urine biomarkers) for identifying bladder cancer in asymptomatic persons with no history of the disease was deemed inadequate.