Men need educating about prostate cancer, SCMP poll shows
One of the most frightening things about prostate cancer is the lack of awareness of the disease, says Jeanette Wang
Prostate cancer awareness campaigns often focus on early detection through identification of symptoms and screening, but results from a recent survey of local men conducted by Health Post have shown perhaps a basic biology lesson is first in order.
Nearly 30 per cent of the 100 men polled earlier this month thought that prostate cancer affects both men and women. This shows a frighteningly low level of awareness for a disease that is growing at the fastest rate among all cancers affecting Hong Kong men.
Prostate cancer is a disease that forms in the tissues of the prostate, a walnut-sized gland in the male reproductive system. According to the latest Health Department statistics, it's the third most common cancer among Hong Kong men, affecting 45.2 per 100,000 people in 2009. In 1999, the rate was 18.3 per 100,000 people. Experts believe the rising incidence may be due to a Westernised diet, an ageing population and improved diagnostic techniques.
So women are obviously spared - but this is not the only fact that many respondents to Health Post's true-or-false quiz got wrong.
More than 80 per cent underestimated the extent of the disease, answering "true" to the statement: "About one in 30 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime."