. . . are now encouraged to use stealth to bring their husbands in for screening tests. In this view from BMJ USA, a general practitioner warns against blindly advocating screening tests. This harkens back to a previous article advocating a balanced view on screening tests.

The “Ignorance Isn’t Bliss” campaign—launched this week and run by the Prostate Research Campaign UK with support from AstraZeneca—wants me, as a general practitioner, to display posters, and disperse leaflets encouraging women to use the “carrot and stick” approach to “persuade your man to talk to his doctor about his prostate health.” This campaign is different: it is for prostates, but for women. Sisters, we are being encouraged to “leave medical information leaflets lying around where he is likely to find them—ie, the bathroom, near the remote control or the car seat.” . . .

. . . The idea that the only good citizen is one who has screening tests is, to me, abhorrent. I wonder what would happen if the situation was reversed. I would not enjoy being shepherded in to my local health centre by my husband for a cervical smear. No competent adult should be cajoled or manipulated into doing what someone else thinks is best for them. Adults are capable of making their own decisions about risk, but they need good, honest information to do that.

There is a danger to the culture of “awareness.” While knowledge is power, it is only functional if harnessed to disperse and aid decision making properly. Otherwise, well meaning campaigns are in danger of worrying the well and failing to reach the very people who may be most likely to benefit . . .

. . . I agree with the Prostate Research Campaign that ignorance is not bliss. But ignorance of the implications of false positives, false negatives, potentially unnecessary invasive interventions, and the current lack of evidence to support PSA screening—that is not bliss either.