Now a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association raises new doubts. For men between 50 and 70, the study found, a one-time blood test (called a PSA) plus a rectal exam increases life expectancy by an average of only 0.6 to 1.7 days. But after adjusting for possible side effects from treatment, the calculations showed a net loss of three to 13 days. (A man who lives for 10 years but is rendered impotent was assigned a “quality-adjusted life expectancy” of 9.2 years; total incontinence reduced the figure to 6.1 years.) Of course, these are averages. Statistics don’t answer what everyone really wants to know: am I gonna die from it?
