Every 15 minutes another American man dies from prostate cancer. That’s a little more than 93 deaths per day and 34,130 this year. That’s enough to fill an entire baseball stadium.
One in eight American men will have prostate cancer during his lifetime. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among American men and is the most commonly diagnosed. The American Cancer Society estimates that 248,530 men will be told they have prostate cancer in 2021. Currently, there are over 3.1 million American men living with the disease – roughly equal to the population of Chicago
Early detection and advances in treatment are saving lives. Finding prostate cancer when it is still at an early stage offers the best hope for living cancer-free for a long time. The most recent research shows the five-year survival rate for all men with prostate cancer is nearly 100 percent. The relative 10-year survival rate is 98 percent, and 96 percent for 15 years.
All men are at risk of developing prostate cancer but that risk increases significantly as men grow older. Unfortunately, African American men are considered ‘high risk’ for developing prostate cancer and dying of the disease. You can learn more about how prostate cancer affects American men by downloading our infographic, American Men and Prostate Cancer By the Numbers,. Learn more about the disproportionate impact of prostate cancer on African-American men by downloading our more in-depth infographic (on page 2 of this PDF) titled African-American Men and Prostate Cancer By the Numbers.
Download, print, or share the Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Prostate Cancer fact sheet.
The high survival rates for prostate cancer continue over time. The overall 10-year survival rate is 98%, and the 15-year survival rate is 96%. However, for “distant” prostate cancer, or cancer that has spread to bones, organs, or distant lymph nodes, the 5-year survival rate drops from nearly 100% to 30%. “Distant” prostate cancer is more commonly known as advanced prostate cancer.