page_title: Prostate cancer
section_title: United States
hierarchical_section_title: Prostate cancer / Epidemiology / United States
caption_attribution_description: English: New cases and deaths from prostate cancer in the United States per 100,000 males.
context_page_description: Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that surrounds the urethra just below the bladder. Most prostate cancers are slow growing. Cancerous cells may spread to other areas of the body, particularly the bones and lymph nodes. It may initially cause no symptoms. In later stages, symptoms include pain or difficulty urinating, blood in the urine, or pain in the pelvis or back. Benign prostatic hyperplasia may produce similar symptoms. Other late symptoms include fatigue, due to low levels of red blood cells.
  Factors that increase the risk of prostate cancer include older age, family history and race. About 99% of cases occur after age 50. A first-degree relative with the disease increases the risk two- to three-fold. Other factors include a diet high in processed meat, red meat, or milk products or low in certain vegetables. An association with gonorrhea has been found, although no reason for this relationship has been identified. An increased risk is associated with the BRCA mutations. Diagnosis is by biopsy. Medical imaging may be done to assess whether metastasis is present.
context_section_description: Prostate cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer death in men, exceeded by lung cancer and colorectal cancer. It accounts for 19% of all male cancers and 9% of male cancer-related deaths.
  Cases ranged from an estimated 230,000 in 2005 to an estimated 164,690 In 2018.
  Deaths held steady around 30,000 in 2005 and 29,430 in 2018.
  Age-adjusted incidence rates increased steadily from 1975 through 1992, with particularly dramatic increases associated with the spread of PSA screening in the late 1980s, later followed by a fall in incidence. A decline in early-stage incidence rates from 2011 to 2012 (19%) in men aged 50 years and older persisted through 2013 (6%).
  Declines in mortality rates in certain jurisdictions may reflect the interaction of PSA screening and improved treatment. The estimated lifetime risk is about 14.0%, and the lifetime mortality risk is 2.6%.
  Between 2005 and 2011, the proportion of disease diagnosed at a locoregional stage was 93% for whites and 92% for African Americans; the proportion of disease diagnosed at a late stage was 4% for whites and 5% for African Americans.
  Prostate cancer is more common in the African American population than the White American population. An autopsy study of White and Asian men also found an increase in occult prostate cancer with age, reaching nearly 60% in men older than 80 years. More than 50% of cancers in Asian men and 25% of cancers in White men had a Gleason score of 7 or greater, suggesting that Gleason score may be an imprecise indicator of clinically insignificant cases.
caption: New cases and deaths from prostate cancer in the United States per 100,000 males between 1975 and 2014
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