Globally prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death in men. In 2012, it occurred in 1.1 million men and caused 307,000 deaths. It was the most common cancer in males in 84 countries, occurring more commonly in the developed world.
In a recent study, scientists identify some of the key risk factors for those patients who are more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer. The paper is published in International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics.
Researcher from Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences conducted the study. They focused on the years 2007-2011, during which more than 12 million records were made.
Men aged 35 to 100 years were examined and the result showed that approximately 5.35% of them had prostate cancer (642,383 men).
Researcher found that the risk factors for prostate cancer include age, race/ethnicity, family history of prostate cancer, family history of any other type of cancer, obesity, smoking, alcohol abuse, cholesterol, vitamin D deficiency, inflammation of prostate, vasectomy, and high blood pressure.
Among them, age, race and family history of any other type of cancer are the biggest risk factors for a man to develop prostate cancer.
In contrast, obesity, alcohol abuse, and smoking showed negative associations with prostate cancer.
Citation: Alqahtani, K.S., et al. (2015) Analysis of risk factors for prostate cancer patients. Int. J. Medical Engineering and Informatics, 7: 365-380. DOI: 10.1504/IJMEI.2015.072322.
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