Drop your prostate cancer risk. I am a cancer doctor, and I want to share some ways that you can lower the chances we will ever meet.
First, a quick look at the scope of the problem. Worldwide, there are over 1.4 million men with prostate cancer. Prostate cancer represents about seven percent of all cancer cases.
Each year, over 375 000 will die from prostate cancer. This mortality number is nearly four percent of all deaths related to cancer.
Such statistics haunt me, driving me to continue to explore how we can work harder on the front end — risk-reduction — to reduce the probability of being diagnosed with, or dying from, prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer — risk factors (fixed)
Like all types of cancer, the exact cause of this male cancer isn’t easy to determine. Multiple factors may be involved in many cases, including genetics and exposure to environmental toxins, like certain chemicals or radiation.
Anything that can raise your risk of a disease (such as cancer) is a risk factor. Some of the risk factors for being diagnosed with prostate cancer include:
- Age. Prostate cancer risk rises with age. For whites with no family history of prostate cancer, the chances rise significantly after age 50. The risk increases for blacks or those with a close relative with prostate cancer at age 40. Approximately two-thirds of cases are among men 65 and older. However, the older a man with prostate cancer is, the less aggressive the disease tends to be, especially after age 70.
- Inherited genetics (family history). For most men with prostate cancer, the genetic changes associated with prostate cancer are acquired during life and are present only in specific prostate cells. These somatic variants are not inherited. The American Cancer Society offers that inherited mutations cause up to ten percent of prostate cancer cases.
- Race. The risk of prostate cancer is 1.8-times higher for African-American men (compared with white Americans). In addition, some studies indicate that prostate cancer tends to be more advanced among African-Americans. Interestingly, the risk is low in Africa and Japan but rises sharply for immigrants to higher-risk countries like the USA. We don’t know why.
- Geography. Prostate cancer is more common in the Caribbean, North America, northwestern Europe, and Australia. Rates are lower in Asia, Africa, Central America, and South America.
DROP YOUR Prostate cancer risk factors
Please go here to learn about some potentially modifiable risk factors:
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