Fewer men are being screened for prostate cancer, and fewer early-stage cases are being detected, according to two studies published Tuesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

The number of cases has dropped not because the disease is becoming less common but because there is less effort to find it, the researchers said.

The declines in both screening and incidence “could have significant public health implications,” the authors of one of the studies wrote, but they added that it was too soon to tell whether the changes would affect death rates from the disease.

About 220,800 new cases of prostate cancer are expected in 2015, along with 27,540 deaths, according to the American Cancer Society.