An update on the age distribution of prostate cancer

The median age keeps slipping downward. Recent SEER statistics show the median age at diagnosis is 66. When I started checking these age-related statistics the median age was 68.

Still, 0.0% are diagnosed under the age of 35. This is not, despite the occasional outlier, a young man's disease.  At the time of my diagnosis (age 43) I was in a rarefied group. Only 0.6% of patients are diagnosed between 35 and 44.

The median age at death is 80.  That has not changed.

age distribution of prostate cancer

Here are some interesting age-related statistics about prostate cancer in the US, from the SEER database.

From 2003 to 2007:

DIAGNOSIS
The median age at diagnosis was 67.

• 0.0% were diagnosed at age 34 or younger (that doesn't mean zero in absolute numbers, just percent)
• 0.6% were diagnosed between age 35 and 44 (that was my age bracket at diagnosis)
• 8.9% were diagnosed from age 45 to 54 (still a small fraction)
• 29.9% were diagnosed from 55 to 64 (now we're talking)
• 35.3% were diagnosed between 65 and 74
• 20.7% between 75 and 84
• 4.6%  85 and older

DEATH

The median age at death was 80.

• 0.0% (again, this is percent, not saying zero men in absolute numbers) of the men who died from prostate cancer were 34 or younger.
• 0.1% of the deaths from prostate cancer occurred between 35 and 44.
• 1.4% of the deaths were between 45 and 54
• 7.5% between 55 and 64
• 19.9% between 65 and 74
• 40.3% between 75 and 84
•  30.8% were 85 and older. 

MORTALITY
24.7 out of every 100,000 male deaths per year are from prostate cancer.  This number has been in decline since the early 1990's.  This figure is dwarfed by that of cardiovascular disease.







Photo credits (used under Creative Commons license):  alper and deVos

the name of this blog

So what's the big deal with PCa before the age of 50? Well, it's not common. Visit the waiting room of your nearest urologist, or go to a support group meeting. You'll see what I mean. I was diagnosed at 43.
A recent study showed the median age at diagnosis was 68. ZERO percent were diagnosed under the age of 35. Only one half of one percent of the diagnoses in that time were in my age group--35 to 44. Over 91% of the time, diagnosis happened at 55 or older.
See what I mean?
Now that doesn't mean prostate cancer isn't lurking. Autopsy studies of men who died from other causes have found prostate cancer is lurking in a surprising number of relatively young men. But obviously, since prostate cancer only accounts for about 3% of male deaths, and the median age at death from PCa is 80 most of those men probably had a form of the disease that was latent. Most men die with prostate cancer, not from it. My PSA was rising quickly, however. (and still is, at least up until I start radiation). I would most likely NOT be one of those guys who dies in their 80's with the disease--I'd be one of those guys who dies in his 50's FROM it, if not for treatment.