How common
is prostate cancer?
Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer found in
American men, other than skin cancer. It is second only to
lung cancer as the most common cause of cancer death. The
American Cancer Society estimates that in 2001, approximately
198,100 new cases will be diagnosed in the United States and
31,500 men will die from the disease.
Prostate cancer is about twice as common among African American men as it is among white American men. It is also most common in North America and northwestern Europe. It is less common in Asia, Africa, Central America and South America. Although men of any age can get prostate cancer, it is found most often in men over the age of 50. In fact, more than 80 percent of men with prostate cancer are over the age of 65.
Who is at increased risk for prostate cancer?
African American men have the highest rates of prostate cancer
in the world and have a 9.8 percent lifetime risk of developing
this cancer. This is slightly higher than the 8 percent lifetime
risk for American Caucasian men.
The risk of developing prostate cancer begins to increase at age 50 for white men who have no family history of the disease and at age 40 for black men and for those who have a first-degree relative (father, brother, maternal or paternal grandfather or uncle) with prostate cancer.
The incidence of prostate cancer is highest in Scandinavian countries (22 cases per 100,000 population) and lowest in Asia (7 per 100,000). Risk may be inversely related to ultraviolet light exposure, as the incidence increases the farther one lives from the equator. Japanese and mainland Chinese men have the lowest rates of prostate cancer. Although Japanese immigrants to the United States have a higher incidence of prostate cancer than Japanese living in Japan, their rate is still about half that of US Caucasians.
The Prostate Cancer pages of this Web site are part of the Comprehensive Prostate Cancer Awareness Program (CPCAP), a major regional effort to reduce the rates of death and illness caused by prostate cancer in southwestern Pennsylvania. Funding for CPCAP is provided by a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
