Death, incidence rates of prostate cancer, other GU cancers drop

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Both the death rate and incidence rate for prostate cancer continues to decline, according to the latest round of statistics from leading U.S. cancer groups.

Among Medicare beneficiaries age 66 years or older with prostate, lung, colorectal, or breast cancer, 40% had at least one comorbidity, according to the report. However, the prevalence of comorbidities for those with prostate cancer (30.5%) was similar to that seen in non-cancer patients (31.8%).

Meanwhile, during the 2001-2010 time period, incidence rates for kidney cancer increased in both men and women. During the same 10-year period, both mortality and incidence rates for bladder cancer decreased among women. In men, bladder cancer incidence declined, while mortality rose slightly.

“The Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer,” covering the period 1975–2010, found that declines in prostate, lung, colorectal, and breast cancer death rates have helped drive a 20% decrease in overall cancer death rates in men and women. The report, produced annually since 1998, is co-authored by researchers from the National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR). It appeared online in Cancer on Dec. 16, 2013.

With respect to genitourinary malignancies, the report shows the following:

Prostate cancer will account for about one in four newly diagnosed cancers in men in 2014.

Slightly over half of the 213,311 men diagnosed with prostate cancer are ages 66-74 years, 38% are 75-84 years, and 7.5% are ≥85 years. Eighty-six percent are Caucasian, 10% are African-American, and the remainder are another race.

In a special feature section this year on comorbidity prevalence, comorbidity levels were associated with a similar impact on 5-year survival among men ages 66 to 74 with prostate cancer diagnosed at an early stage. By contrast, comorbidity levels had relatively little or modest impact on the survival of men with advanced prostate cancer.

From 2000-2010, prostate cancer incidence declined about 2%, while the death rate declined just over 3%.

In terms of cancer stage, between 2009 and 2010, the incidence rate of localized prostate cancer declined by 8%, while the rate of regional cancer declined .7% and the rate of distant disease increased 2.5%.

“In 2008, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended against prostate cancer screening for men aged ≥75 years,” the authors wrote. “This change resulted in declines in both prostate-specific antigen testing and prostate cancer incidence rates among older men (aged ≥75 years), especially early stage prostate cancer, which is most likely to be detected by screening. Indeed, from 2009 through 2010, we observed that incidence rates of localized prostate cancer decreased, whereas incidence rates of regional prostate cancer stabilized, and rates of distant prostate cancer increased.”