how many people die of prostate cancer?

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jimbo - 02 Sep 2003 11:12 GMT

I was wondering if someone could tell me
how many men die of prostate cancer each year
in the United States?

But secondly, since I keep hearing different
figures, "who decides" how many people die? I
guess there is an official government agency out
there to give the statistics? Who is the official
keeper of the records?

Thankyou.

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Leonard Evens - 02 Sep 2003 14:55 GMT

> I was wondering if someone could tell me
> how many men die of prostate cancer each year
> in the United States?

According to the American Cancer Society, it is about 29,000. But it
has been dropping each year since PSA testing was introduced in the
early 90s. Many researchers consider that strong evidence that PSA
testing is effective, but of course there are other possible
explanations like improved treatment.

The ACS also estimates that about 220,000 new cases will be diagnosed
this year. It should be kept in mind that the overwhelming bulk of
cases are diagnosed in older men, many of whom will die of something
else before the cancer can kill them. For those men, no aggressive
treatment at all or what is called watchful waiting is appropriate.
For younger men, the likelihood of dying of prostate cancer if left
untreated is higher.

> But secondly, since I keep hearing different
> figures, "who decides" how many people die? I
> guess there is an official government agency out
> there to give the statistics? Who is the official
> keeper of the records?

Try starting at www.nlm.nih.gov and searching. You should find several
government agencies collecting health statistics. I don't know that
any one should be considered the official source.

For example, see seer.cancer.gov, but there are others.

See also the American Cancer Society site www.cancer.org. While not a
government agency, they are pretty good about providing reliable
information. Unfortunately, they make you register (for free) in order
to get access to information.

> Thankyou.

Signature

Leonard Evens len@math.northwestern.edu 847-491-5537
Dept. of Mathematics, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL 60208

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Darryl - 03 Sep 2003 01:00 GMT

> I was wondering if someone could tell me
> how many men die of prostate cancer each year
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> Thankyou.

Here you go Jimbo,

http://www.newsday.com/news/health/wire/sns-ap-cancer-rates,0,1512225.
story?coll=sns-ap-health-headlines

By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer
September 2, 2003, 5:52 PM EDT
WASHINGTON -- Cancer deaths may be leveling off after several years of
decline, and many states are lagging in proven methods to fight the most
common tumors, says the nation's annual report on cancer....

..Death rates for the four most common cancers -- lung, breast,
prostate and colorectal -- still are declining for all but one group,
women with lung cancer. Lung cancer deaths are increasing by just under
1 percent a year among both white and black womem.

this has some usefull info on it as well:
2003 Program Fact Sheet
Prostate Cancer: The Public Health Perspective
http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/prostate/prostate.htm

Darryl

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