Prostate cancer rates could double over next five years

Hundreds of thousands of Australian men are unknowingly facing ‘a tidal wave of risk’ as rates of aggressive prostate cancer threaten to more than double in the next five years, experts say.

An estimated 630,000 Australian men currently have at least double the risk of a prostate cancer diagnosis due to family history of the disease, but are potentially completely unaware. Picture: iStock

Hundreds of thousands of Australian men are unknowingly facing “a tidal wave of risk” as rates of aggressive prostate cancer threaten to more than double in the next five years, experts say.

An estimated 630,000 Australian men currently have at least double the risk of a prostate cancer diagnosis due to family history of the disease, but are potentially completely unaware, Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia chief executive Anne Savage said.

Ms Savage, who noted that prostate cancer received about half of the funding of other major cancers, said reminding men to get tested could “easily be done cost-effectively”, suggesting that reminders could be integrated into routine GP check-ups and via MyGov’s My Health Record.

“These are ideas that need to be explored and considered,” she told The Australian.

“This is an audience we need to speak to rather urgently.”

Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia chief executive Anne Savage. Picture: Supplied

Out of more than 24,200 Australians expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, about 3500 will be aged 59 or younger, and one of those men will die every five days, Ms Savage said.

“We still have a long way to go in overcoming the misperceptions that prostate cancer is an old man’s disease, that men die with it not from it.”

The foundation is currently undergoing a review of their PSA testing guidelines under the leadership of PCFA medical advisory committee chairman Dr Peter Heathcote, who said few Australian men knew the risk factors and about 75 per cent did not know the testing guidelines.

“Many will have no symptoms at the point of diagnosis, which means education and more proactive risk assessment, beginning with a PSA blood test, is key to early detection and survival,” he said.

Dr Heathcote said an education and awareness campaign, especially in rural and remote areas, would provide the best “bang for your buck”, noting a stark inequality in the available funding for prostate cancer compared to other cancers, like breast cancer. “The disease tends to be less prominent in the public mind,” he said. “This carries across industry and policy measures, where less funding is allocated to prostate cancer, fewer researchers are funded to take it on, and the cycle then repeats itself.”

Current projections indicate a year-on-year rise of cases, with the overall prevalence increasing from around 240,000 men today to 372,000 by 2040, with “steeper rises of aggressive prostate cancers expected”, Ms Savage said.