Epidemiology of prostate cancer

Excerpt

In the setting of a growing world population and economy, and slow but steady improvements in public health, the world’s older male population continues to grow and age; trends which will only accelerate in the decades to come [1]. In this context, prostate cancer is a growing concern in global epidemiology. More than one million cases are diagnosed annually, and the mortality burden has risen to over 300,000 deaths per year. Prostate cancer has now surpassed esophageal cancer in terms of male mortality burden, and is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among men [2]. Both incidence and mortality vary tremendously across geographic regions and populations [2], almost certainly reflecting multifactorial impacts of genetic variation; diet, lifestyle, and environmental factors; access to care and overall life expectancy; and variations in use of prostate specific antigen-based screening policies. …