Across the world, prostate cancer is second only to lung cancer as the most diagnosed cancer in men. For 66% of the world, it’s the #1 cancer in men.
About 1 in 5 men and women develop cancer in their lifetime. Whereas more men die from cancer (1 in 9) than women (1 in 12).
Worldwide, prostate cancer is the 2nd most frequent cancer, closely following lung cancer, and it's the 5th leading cause of death from cancer (after lung, liver, colorectum, and stomach cancer).
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in males in 118 of 185 countries, but it's the leading cause of death in only 52 countries, mostly in Central America and sub-Saharan Africa. This worldwide distribution of prostate cancer reflects large disparities in early detection, prevalence of risk factors, and treatment.
These statistics are according to the most recent American Cancer Society (ACS) Global Cancer Facts & Figures 5th Edition based on 2022 estimates from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). ACS researchers Hyuna Sung, PhD, Chenxi Jiang, MPH, Rebecca Siegel, MPH, and Ahmedin Jemal, DMV, PhD, contributed to the report. An accompanying article from a collaboration with IARC researchers, "Global Cancer Statistics, 2022," was published in the ACS flagship journal CA: Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
An estimated 1.5 million men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year. The incidence rate for prostate cancer ranges from less than 3 men per every 100,000 men in Yemen and Bhutan to more than 100 men per every 100,000 in Guadeloupe, Lithuania, Martinique, Norway, Sweden, and Barbados.
High prostate cancer incidence rates in some areas, such as the Americas, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, are partly due to widespread use of screening with PSA (prostate-specific antigen) testing, which detects cancer at early stages but also detects cancers that do not progress or cause harms in a lifetime if left undetected (overdiagnosis). In other regions, such as in the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa, high incidence rates for prostate cancer are partly due to increased genetic susceptibility. For instance, men with Western Africa ancestry are more likely to have a genetic variant associated with prostate cancer.
Little is known about the lifestyle and environmental factors associated with prostate cancer. The only established risk factors are older age, family history, and genetic susceptibility. Additional risk factors that may play a role are still under investigation include smoking, excess body weight, and dietary factors.
Approximately 1 in 5 men will develop cancer in their lifetime, and the rate is the same for women.
For men worldwide, lung cancer is the most frequent cancer, followed by prostate and colorectal cancer. Liver cancer is the 5th most common type of cancer diagnosed in men, and those rates are 2 to 3 times higher in men than in women.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in men worldwide, and 3 times as many men around the world (36%) died from a tobacco-related cancer in 2019 compared to women who did (12%). Some of the countries with the largest populations, including Indonesia and China, have the highest daily smoking prevalence among men, which creates the potential to increase future global lung cancer death in men. More than half of the men in Indonesia smoke every day.
Research shows that lung cancer can largely be prevented through effective tobacco control policies and regulations. One of the most effective interventions to reduce the demand for tobacco is an increase in the average tax on tobacco."
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