What Is Prostate Cancer?
Prostate cancer develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing, but there are some aggressive, faster growing types too.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers to be diagnosed in men in the UK, accounting for nearly one quarter of male cancers. In the UK each year over 41,700 men are diagnosed with it. It is rare in men under the age of 50, with more than 50% of all cases of the cancer being diagnosed in men over the age of 50.
There is on-going research into the main causes of prostate cancer, but there are already risk factors.
One major factor is age, with an estimated 80% of men in their 80s having some form of the cancer.
Other factors include: a family history of the disease, black African and black Caribbean ethnicity, and poor diet.