March is prostate cancer awareness month

March is Prostate Cancer awareness month. Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men in the UK. It accounts for nearly a quarter of all cases of new male cancer diagnoses.

Prostate cancer in numbers

• 35,000 men are diagnosed in this country each year, that represents 90 men every day or one man every 15 minutes.
• Over 10,000 of these diagnosed will die.
• One man dies every hour of prostate cancer in the UK.
• Almost 60% of prostate cancer cases are diagnosed in men aged over 70 years.
• Around 7 in 10 newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients now survive beyond five years. In the 1970s it was only 3 in 10.

What are the symptoms of prostate cancer?

These are some of the most common symptoms of prostate cancer (although it should be stressed that some men with prostate cancer may have no symptoms):

• A need to urinate frequently, especially at night.
• Difficulty starting urination or a weak/ reduced flow of urine.
• Painful or burning urination.
• A feeling that your bladder has not emptied properly or dribbling urine.
• Needing to rush to the toilet - occasionally leaking urine before you get there.
• Difficulty in having an erection or painful ejaculation.
• Blood in urine or semen.
• Pain in the testes.

Who is at risk?

Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer are over 50, although some men in their 40s can suffer. If there is a family history of prostate cancer, your risk can be increased by 2-2.5 times. Men of African Caribbean descent are 3 times more likely to contract prostate cancer than white males - as yet scientists do not know why this is. Diet can also play a part, with read meat and saturated fats implicated as risk factors.

Prevention and survival

With modern treatments and early detection, survival rates can be as high as 7 in 10.

More information

The Prostate Cancer Charity

This article was published on Wed 25 March 2009