Prostate Cancer Facts

• Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in America.

• About 80 percent of men who reach age 80 have prostate cancer.

• One man in six will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, but only one man in 34 will die of this disease.

• According to the American Cancer Society, in 2007, nearly 219,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and over 27,000 men will die from it.

• One new case occurs every 2.5 minutes and a man dies from prostate cancer every 17 minutes.

• After lung cancer, prostate cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men in the U.S.

• A non-smoking man is more likely to get prostate cancer than lung, bronchus, colon, rectal, bladder, lymphoma, melanoma, oral and kidney cancers combined.

• African-American men are 65% more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than Caucasian-Americans and are more than twice as likely to die from it. The reasons for this disparity are not yet known.

• It is estimated that there are over 2 million American men currently living with prostate cancer.

• Symptoms of prostate cancer include: frequent urination - especially at night, inability to urinate, trouble starting or holding back urination, a weak or interrupted flow of urine, painful or burning urination, blood in the urine or semen, painful ejaculation and frequent pain in the lower back, hips, or upper thighs.

• Early prostate cancer usually has no symptoms and is most commonly detected through prostate cancer screening tests such as the PSA blood test and digital rectal exam.

• Prostate cancer can be eliminated from the body by surgery or radiation - if diagnosed at an early stage.

• However, every year, 70,000 men require additional treatment due to a recurrence of prostate cancer.

• Because prostate cancer is a relatively slow-growing cancer, the 5-year survival rate for prostate cancer diagnosed at all stages is 98%. The relative 10-year survival rate is 84% and the 15-year survival rate is 56%.

• The chance of having prostate cancer increases rapidly after age 50. More than 70% of all prostate cancers are diagnosed in men over the age of 65. It is still unclear why this increase with age occurs for prostate cancer.

• The only well-established risk factors for prostate cancer are age, ethnicity and family history of the disease; however, high dietary fat intake may also be a significant risk factor. A recent study shows that the risk of dying from prostate cancer increases with body weight.

• During the past 13 years, the Prostate Cancer Foundation has raised more than $245 million to support aggressive prostate cancer research. During that time, U.S. government funding for prostate cancer research has increased 20-fold from $25 million per year in 1993 to over $500 million in 2004 - largely as a result of the advocacy efforts of the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
 

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