The Statistics

Prostate can­cer, par­tic­u­larly among African Americans is a dis­grace­ful tragedy that needs imme­di­ate and dra­matic action”
John R. Kelly, PhD
Board of Directors, American Cancer Society (JAMA 2/11/98)

Prostate can­cer in the United States…

  • affects 1 in 9 men
  • is most com­mon in African Americans, men over 50, and men with a fam­ily his­tory of cancer.
  • causes 37,000 deaths a year.

Surviving Prostate Cancer

The aver­age age of men diag­nosed with prostate can­cer is 72 years, so many patients with prostate can­cer, espe­cially those whose dis­ease is con­fined to the prostate gland, may die of other ill­nesses or old age with­out ever hav­ing suf­fered sig­nif­i­cant dis­abil­ity from their cancer.

Survival rates for all stages of prostate can­cer have steadily improved over the past 50 years. This means that today, more than 75% of men who have prostate can­cer can expect to live at least five years from the time the can­cer is diag­nosed. For men with prostate can­cer that has not spread beyond the prostate gland, the 5-year sur­vival rate climbs to 99%.

Nationwide Statistics

  • According to the American Cancer Society, prostate can­cer is the sec­ond lead­ing cause of can­cer deaths among African American men.
  • The prostate can­cer inci­dence rate for African American men is 50% higher than that of European American men.  The screen­ing rate for European American men in 1997 was 62%, ver­sus 42% for African American men.
  • Approximately 56% of all prostate can­cer in African American men is diag­nosed while still local­ized, a stage which has a rel­a­tive five-year sur­vival rate of 93%. When diag­nosed at a later stage, the rel­a­tive five-year sur­vival rate drops to 30%.

Local Statistics

  • The cur­rent life expectancy for African American men in San Francisco is 56.6 years, which is below the 1940 life expectancy for European American men.
  • Approximately 7,250 African American men 40 to 79 years of age are liv­ing in the Bayview Hunters Point, Visitation Valley, Western Addition, and Ocean View/Merced/Ingleside com­mu­ni­ties in San Francisco. These neigh­bor­hoods have some of the high­est prostate can­cer rates in the San Francisco.

 

Sources:
American Cancer Society; Cancer Facts and Figures for African Americans 1998–1999; 1990 U.S. Census; Community Health Profile: Summary of Preliminary Results, HERC Environmental Assessment Project, Draft, 1999.