Prostate Cancer Risk Factors

According to the National Cancer Institute of Canada (2005), prostate cancer is the most frequent cancer and the third leading cause of death from cancer in men, exceeded only by lung cancer and colorectal cancer. Prostate cancer accounts for 26% of all male cancers and 12% of male cancer-related deaths. While the incidence has increased significantly over the past 35 years, the mortality rate is declining in Canada. Between 1992 and 2001 the prostate cancer mortality rate in Canada had a 2% average annual decline.It is estimated that in 2005 there will be 36,700 deaths from cancer in men of which 4,300 will be due to prostate cancer.

Risk factor for prostate cancer is :
Age : The prevalence of prostat cancer increases with age, especially over the age of 60, both incidence and mortality rates due to prostat cancer increase strikingly
Family history: It is claimed that prostat cancer has a hereditary component. Men with a family history of PC are at increased risk of developing PC from 1.5 to 4 times more than the general population

Diet: The dietary differences between diverse geographic regions and various racial/ethnic populations provide an interesting possible explanation for differences in the incidence and mortality of prostat cancer

Smoking status and alcohol consumption: The effects of smoking and alcohol on the epidemiology of prostat cancer are inconclusive and difficult to interpret. Hsing and colleagues (2002) demonstrated a relative risk of 1.8 for smoking. In line with our findings, most of the studies, although not all, that used incident prostate cancer cases in analyses observed no association among smoking status, alcohol consumption and risk of prostate cancer development

Diabetes mellitus: It is stated that men with diabetes mellitus appear to have a lower risk of developing prostat cancer
Sex steroid hormones: Although hormones play an important role in normal and cancerous prostate physiology including growth, differentiation and progression; their relationship to the risk of prostat cancer remains undefined and needs to be interpreted with caution

Sexual behavior and vasectomy: Some studies suggest that prostat cancer is related to the frequency of sexual activity, early intercourse, number of sexual partners, sexually transmitted diseases, prostatic infection, fertility, marital status and vasectomy.
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