African-American men are 60 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer than Caucasian men.
Risk factors for prostate cancer
COURIER LIFE, SEPT. 6-12, 2019 27
Health
In the United States, one in six men can expect to be
diagnosed with prostate cancer, while there is a one
in seven chance that a Canadian man will be diagnosed
with prostate cancer at some point during his
lifetime.
Those elevated incidence rates could be a byproduct
of an aging population, as age is a signifi cant risk
factor for prostate cancer. According the Prostate Cancer
Foundation, one in 10,000 men under age 40 will be
diagnosed with prostate cancer. That fi gure skyrockets
to one in 38 for men between the ages of 40 to 59, and
one in 15 for men in their 60s.
Though age is perhaps the most signifi cant risk factor,
it’s not the only thing that increases a man’s risk
for prostate cancer. In fact, there are a host of factors
in addition to age that increase a man’s risk for prostate
cancer, which the Canadian Cancer Society says
will claim the lives of more than 4,000 Canadian men
this year.
One such risk factor is where a man lives. Men who
live in rural China, for instance, have a relatively low
risk of developing prostate cancer during their lifetime.
That risk is only two percent if a man stays in
rural China his entire life. But that risk increases signifi
cantly if a Chinese man moves to the West, where
a man in the United States has a 17 percent chance of
developing prostate cancer.
And not only does which country a man lives in
play a role, but also the location of his home within
that country’s borders can elevate the risk. Men who
live in cities north of 40 degrees latitude (north of Philadelphia,
Pa.; Columbus, Ohio; and Provo, Utah) have
the highest risk of dying from prostate cancer, and
researchers feel this is because men who live in such
cities get less sunlight during the winter months and
therefore less vitamin D.
Race is another risk factor for prostate cancer.
Asian men have the lowest risk of developing prostate
cancer, while African-American men are 60 percent
more likely to develop the disease than Caucasian
men. The PCF notes that African-American men
are also 2.5 times more likely to die from the disease,
which highlights the importance that African-American
men must place on screenings.
Family history also plays a role in a man’s risk
for developing prostate cancer. Men whose fathers or
brothers have had prostate cancer are twice as likely
to develop the disease. Their risk increases even more
if their fathers or brothers were diagnosed with the
cancer before reaching the age of 55 or if they had
three or more family members who were diagnosed
with prostate cancer.
Research into prostate cancer is ongoing and continues
to unearth new information regarding this potentially
deadly disease. The PCF notes, for instance,
that the risk factors for aggressive version of this type
of cancer can differ from the risk factors for slow-growing
cancers. As a result, risk factors that were once not
linked to prostate cancer are now being linked to aggressive
forms of the disease. Smoking, for example,
might be a risk factor for aggressive prostate cancer,
as is a diet void of vegetables. Neither factor, however,
is thought to increase a man’s risk of slow-growing
prostate cancer. Additional risk factors for aggressive
prostate cancer include height (tall men might have an
elevated risk) and living a sedentary lifestyle.
Many men are aware of the importance of prostate
cancer screenings. However, few might know that certain
factors signifi cantly increase their risk for being
diagnosed with this potentially deadly disease. More
information about prostate cancer is available at www.
pcf.org.
/www.pcf.org
/www.pcf.org
/pcf.org