American Family Physician

A bout 218,890 new prostate cancer diagnoses were expected in the United States during 2007, with 27,050 men dying of the disease. Men have a 17 percent lifetime risk of prostate cancer, but only a 3 percent risk of dying from the disease. Black men have the highest incidence of prostate cancer in the world. The age-adjusted death rate from prostate cancer is 64.4 per 100,000 for black men compared with 26.6 per 100,000 for white men. Asian and Hispanic men are at lower risk than white men. In addition to race, other risk factors for prostate cancer are age and family history. The disease rarely occurs before 45 years of age, but the incidence rises exponentially thereafter; nearly 70 percent of cases are diagnosed in men 65 years and older. The rate of prostate cancer is about 2.5-fold greater in men who have a first-degree relative with the disease. The risk of prostate cancer appears to be even greater if the affected relative is a brother rather than a father, if the affected relative is younger than 55 years, or if two or more first-degree relatives are affected. Investigation into nutrition-related risk is ongoing.