Next to skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most often seen type of cancer in American men and it is estimated that in the region of 219,000 men in the United States will be diagnosed as having prostate cancer in 2007 and that just over 27,000 men will die from the disease.
However, as is the case with many conditions, survival rates from prostate cancer are not the same around the globe and this should provide us with data which will enable us to improve our treatment methods.
A recent study examined data on around 117,000 men suffering from prostate cancer (including approximately 108,000 white men and almost 9,000 Asians drawn from the six largest Asian ethnic groups - , Chinese, Korean, South Asian, Japanese, Filipino and Vietnamese). The study examined both survival rates and prognostic factors amongst these men.
Amongst the many findings from the study it was seen that the risk profile for Asians was worse than that for white men, with Asians being more likely to have advanced prostate cancer at the time of diagnosis and of being treated with a range of non-curative therapies. However, the study also found that the survival rates amongst Asian men were either equal to or better than those for white men.
These study results were particularly surprising when we note that the average age at which most Asian men are diagnosed as having prostate cancer is significantly higher than that for white men and that their cancer is generally more advanced, which ought to suggest a reduced survival rate.
When the figures were examined in more detail however it was found that there was a very noticeable variation between different groups of Asian men. As an example, Japanese-American men were thirty-four percent less likely to die from prostate cancer, while men from South Asia (including, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, India and Bhutan) were forty percent more likely to die from the condition.
So just what does this mean? Well, unfortunately the answer would appear to be not a great deal. These differences are without doubt large enough to be significant, however the wide variation between many largely similar groups means that it is impossible to draw any concrete conclusions. Certainly there are a number of things, like exercise, diet and genetics, which are a factor but many of the findings appear to be almost contradictory.
In consequence, a study which it was believed would point to differences between ethic groups which would allow us to improve prostate cancer treatment has actually raised more questions that it has answered. As a matter of fact, other than pointing to the dangers of drawing conclusions from too broad a group, as witnessed in the difference in the figures for Asian men as a whole and South Asian men, the study has revealed that the differences were larger than many people had believed and thus suggest that these differences might be more significant than previously believed.
At the end of the day, this study has not taken us any further forward however has highlighted the need for further investigation which will hopefully provide better data and permit us to exploit the better survival rates in many Asian groups in designing treatment plans for prostate cancer.
ProstateProblemCenter.com provides information on prostate cancer from understanding prostate cancer treatment to the therapeutic use of prostate milking
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