This forum is for the discussion of anything to do with Prostate Cancer. There are only four rules:
No fundraisers, no commercials (although it is OK to recommend choices of treatment or medical people based on your personal research; invitations to participate in third-party surveys are also acceptable, provided there is no compensation to YANA);
No harvesting e-mail addresses for Spam;
No insults or flaming - be polite and respectful at all times and understand that there may be a variety of points of view, all of which may have some validity;
Opinions are OK, but please provide as much factual evidence as possible for any assertions that you are making
Failure to abide by these simple rules will result in the immediate and permanent suspension of your posting privileges.
Since this is an International Forum, please specify your location in your post.
It is not easy to get much information outside of the USA, where there is a good deal of information - almost too much and a god deal conflicting.
You say In South Africa there is very little (if any) widespread education about PC. Yet last month there was nationwide education on breast cancer. This is a pretty standard gripe amongst men. In virtually every country in the world there is more spent on BCa (Breast Cancer) than there is on PCa (Prostate Cancer) – on research, on education, on publicity. You’ll see men’s cricket, football, rugby, NFL teams with pink laces, pink jumpers all for BCa, but you won’t see much beyond the odd blue ribbon for PCa. Why? I think it is simply because women are better at working together than men. Time and again men’s organisations land up working against each other instead of together and I don’t think anything will change that as long as Testosterone Rules! In one instances there was a move to have September declared as Prostate Cancer Month in all States. This required a specific legislative act in each State. In many States, it was women activists who arranged the requisite partitions and paperwork on behalf of their men. BCa postage stamps were a huge seller in the US and raised a good deal of money: many PCa postage stamps were never even sold. Men jst aren’t very good on health issues.
You ask five questions:
- What is the prevalence of PC vs breast cancer In most countries there are very similar ratios of diagnosis and death for each of the diseasess - What % of men are diagnosed by age 50, 60, 70 The US National Cancer Institute SEER site provides a good deal of US information. According to that site From 2002-2006, the median age at diagnosis for cancer of the prostate was 68 years of age3. Approximately 0.0% were diagnosed under age 20; 0.0% between 20 and 34; 0.6% between 35 and 44; 8.7% between 45 and 54; 29.0% between 55 and 64; 35.6% between 65 and 74; 21.4% between 75 and 84; and 4.7% 85+ years of age. - In your country what public education on PC exists In Australia, there is a focus on prostate cancer linked to depression in November each year, but very little more than that. - What is considered an abnormal PSA - is this age differentiated A significant area of non-agreement. The current ‘trip-wire’ is 4.0 ng/ml in most countries, although Dr Catalona the ‘father’ of PSA has for some time been pushing the line that 2.5 ng/ml is a better figure and possible even 1.5 ng/ml. I am not aware of any study that provides any evidence of the range of PSA numbers which might be regarded as ‘normal’ although I did see a media report (not a published study) where an Australian doctor was quoted as saying that a patient of his with a PSA in excess of 300 ng/ml had returned to a normal PSA level after therapy. At one time there was a strong view that PSA should be age differentiated because of the high incidence of BPH (Benign Prostate Hyperplasia) in men as they aged, but this has not become the norm. A number of specialists have put forward suggested formulae to calculate the ‘normal’ PSA in a large gland to try to establish the PSA that might be generated by PCa within the gland. - what % of men die of PC -( I think this was 3%) Yes, in most countries PCa deaths account for about 2 – 3 % of all male deaths. There are some recently published studies that demonstrate that even in men diagnosed with PCa the mortality rate from other causes is between 8 and 16 times the mortality from PCa.
Or to put it absolutely bluntly, apart from the relatively small number of men diagnosed with an advanced and aggressive form of the disease (about 5% of all diagnoses in the US) there is a far greater chance of dying of some other cause. I touch on some of these issues in THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM – so termed because although the fear of death is something that drives most – maybe all - men diagnosed with PCa, it is a subject rarely discussed in forums like these.
Hi Terry
Thank you for the comprehensive answers - I guess I am surprised that mortality rates for BCa and PCa are similar, perhaps my perception of otherwise is as a consequence of the publicity BCa attracts. I would also agree that women are better organsers in general than men.
