...
By Jesus Mesa
Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Former President Joe Biden on Thursday urged men to get tested for prostate cancer after the American Cancer Society changed its screening guidelines, four days after he said his own fight with the disease has been slowing him down.
In a post on X, Biden laid out the new advice. Men ages 50 to 69 should get a PSA test every two years, he wrote, while Black men and men with a family history of prostate cancer should get one every year starting at 45. From age 70, men should talk to their doctors about what fits them.
"I know firsthand the toll of this disease, and I know that catching it early saves lives," Biden wrote. "So talk to your doctor, get screened, and let's keep working to end cancer as we know it."
Read More on Politics
...
His post shared a report saying that the society now recommends that most men ages 50 to 69 be screened every other year, as rates of advanced prostate cancer continue to rise. The new schedule calls for testing more often than what Biden promoted two months ago, when he said men at average risk should start screenings around 50 and repeat them every two to four years.
Biden, 83, is the oldest living former president and one of the most prominent Americans living with advanced prostate cancer. The message comes at a busy moment for him. His presidential memoir, Promise Me, America, goes on sale Tuesday, and excerpts released this week include the full text of the private letter President Donald Trump left him in the Oval Office in January 2021.
Newsweek has reached out to Biden's office for comment via email.
Related Story
Joe Biden Cancer Update as Former President Pushes for Early Detection
Joe Biden Gives Cancer Update
Biden's latest update on his health came Sunday in a post mostly about the book.
"Some days are better than others," Biden wrote on X. "It hasn't stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down. What that means is, unfortunately, I won't be able to do as many conversations about my book as I'd hoped. However, I'm hopeful the words on the page speak for themselves."
Biden's office announced on May 18, 2025, less than four months after he left the White House, that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had already spread to his bones. Doctors gave it a Gleason score of 9, a high-grade reading. His office said at the time the cancer appeared to be hormone-sensitive, which allows for effective management.
He has since gone through radiation and hormone treatment. In September, in a post marking Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, Biden said the radiation he received the previous fall "worked as intended."
His family has been blunt about it, as well. Wife Jill Biden said in August on SiriusXM's Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa that her husband is "doing OK" but that "he will forever live with cancer, and we have to be mindful of it every three months, testing and medicines."
Days later, son Hunter Biden told the BBC's Newsnight that his father's cancer had "metastasized into his bones and further." He added: "It's really sad to watch."
Biden Reveals Details of Trump's 'Very Generous' 2021 Oval Office Letter
On his first afternoon as president, January 20, 2021, Biden sat at the Resolute Desk signing executive orders and took one question from reporters. It was about the note Trump had left behind.
"The president wrote a very generous letter," Biden said. "Because it was private, I won't talk about it until I talk to him. But it was generous."
He kept it to himself for more than five years. The two-page handwritten letter, left in an envelope addressed "To '46,'" now appears in full in Promise Me, America, according to an excerpt obtained by The New York Times.
"Coming to work every day in the Oval Office is a blessing beyond imagination," Trump wrote.
He told Biden he would now carry the hopes and dreams of the whole nation, praised his love for the country and said he was confident in his ability to lead. The letter ends with "May God bless you and Jill, and may God bless America!" Trump signed it "Donald."
Trump wrote it two weeks after the January 6 riot at the Capitol. He never conceded the 2020 election and skipped Biden's inauguration, flying to Florida that morning.
Elsewhere in the memoir, Biden gives a harsh assessment of both Trump administrations. Looking back at the letter, he suggests that it can seem as though there were two versions of Trump.
What Happens Next for Joe Biden?
The 480-page memoir, published by Little, Brown and Company, is out November 17. Biden said it covers "the challenges we faced, the decisions I made, and why I made them." He turns 84 three days later.
The promotional tour will be smaller than planned. Biden has not said which appearances, if any, were dropped, and his office has shared no new details about his treatment since Sunday. In a July video announcing the book, he described the treatment as "going really well."
He has kept returning to screening in his public messages, though.
"When prostate cancer is caught early, the five-year survival is close to 100%," Biden wrote in September. "So have the conversation with your doctor. Don't put it off."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Samantha Beech and Dave Siminoff.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines