More prostate cancer but fewer deaths

A major study by researchers from the Cancer Council Australia has found that even though more men are being diagnosed with prostate cancer, fewer are dying from the disease.

The study looked at the rates of prostate cancer and prostate-specific antigen testing in New South Wales since 1972.

Lead author, Dr. David Smith says the death rate from prostate cancer has fallen by about 2% each year since the early 1990s and fewer men are now diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer.

Dr. Smith says the death rate from prostate cancer has fallen by 20% in the last fifteen years, but the number of men being diagnosed with the disease has soared and currently three times as many men are now diagnosed with prostate cancer than they were 20 years ago.

Dr. Smith says that increase can be attributed largely to better testing, and an increased willingness of many men to be tested.

The researchers say there was a sustained increase in prostate cancer incidence in NSW after PSA testing was introduced and the drop in the numbers of advanced disease and death from prostate cancer after 1993 is linked to the availability of PSA testing - but they also say other explanations cannot be excluded.

The study is published in the Medical Journal of Australia.