Many Asian Men Show a Greater Ability to Survive Prostate Cancer

Next to skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most commonly seen type of cancer in American men and it is estimated that just about 219,000 men in the US alone will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during 2007 and that just over 27,000 men will die from the disease.

However, as with many diseases, prostate cancer survival rates are not the same around the globe and this fact should give us the data which will allow us to improve our treatment methods.

In a recent study data was collected on nearly 117,000 men with prostate cancer (some 108,000 white men and nearly 9,000 Asians drawn from the six largest Asian ethnicities – , Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, South Asian and Vietnamese). The study looked at both survival rates and prognostic factors amongst these men.

Amongst the various findings of the study it was found that the risk profile for Asian men was worse than that for white men, with Asian men being more likely to have advanced cases of the disease at the time of diagnosis and of receiving treatment with a variety of non-curative therapies. However, the study also showed that the survival rates amongst Asian men were either the same as or better than those for white men.

These results were particularly surprising when we consider that the age at which Asian men are diagnosed with prostate cancer is much higher than that for white men and that their cancers are normally more advanced, which should clearly suggest a reduced survival rate.

When the data was studied in more detail however it was found that there was a very noticeable variation between different groups of Asian men. For example, Japanese-American men were one-third less likely to die as a result of prostate cancer, while men from South Asia (including, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan) were forty percent more likely to die from the disease.

So just what does this mean? Well, unfortunately the answer would seem to be not a great deal. These variations are certainly big enough to be significant, but the wide variation between several largely similar groups makes it impossible to draw any concrete conclusions. Without doubt there are a variety of things, such as diet, exercise and genetics, which are a factor but several of the findings appear to be almost contradictory.

The result is that, a study which it was hoped would identify differences across ethic groups which would allow us to improve prostate cancer treatment has in fact raised more questions that it has answered. Actually, other than pointing to the dangers of reaching conclusions based upon too large a group, as seen in the wide variation in the figures for Asian men in general and men from just South Asia, the study has shown that the differences were greater than many people had thought and therefore suggest that these variations could indeed be more significant than previously thought.

At the end of the day, this study has not taken us any further forward but it has highlighted the need for more investigation which will hopefully produce better data and allow us to take advantage of the better survival rates in many Asian groups in formulating treatment plans for prostate cancer.

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