Recent trends in prostate cancer mortality show a continuous decrease in several countries

Abstract

Prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening was introduced to detect prostate cancer at an early stage and to reduce prostate cancer‐specific mortality. Until results from clinical trials are available, the efficacy of PSA screening in reducing prostate cancer mortality can be estimated by surveillance of prostate cancer mortality trends. Our study analyzes recent trends in prostate cancer mortality in 38 countries. We used the IARC‐WHO cancer mortality database and performed joinpoint analysis to examine prostate cancer mortality trends and identified 3 patterns. In USA, and to a lesser extent in Germany, Switzerland, Canada, France, Italy and Spain, prostate cancer‐specific mortality decreased to a level lower than before the introduction of PSA screening. In Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Finland, The Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom, Hungary, Slovakia, Israel, Singapore, Sweden and Portugal, mortality from prostate cancer decreased but rates remain higher than before the introduction of PSA screening. Prostate cancer mortality continued to increase in Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Belarus, Ukraine, Russian Federation, Romania, Poland, Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Japan, China Hong Kong and the Republic of Korea. The trends in prostate cancer mortality rates in examined countries suggest that PSA screening may be effective in reducing mortality from prostate cancer. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Prostate cancer mortality trends in Argentina 1986-2006: an age-period-cohort and joinpoint analysis

“…A previous national study in the period 1980-2003 had also reported a similar trend with rates rising up to 1998 and declining from that year 11 , similar to that shown by Bouchardy et al 10 for the period 1977-1996. Other authors, however, had reported a stabilizing of rates in the period 1966-1991 22 .…”

“…According to this source, the 2004 prostate age standardized mortality rate was 13.62x10 -5 inhabitants 9 , but the temporal pattern is obviously not yet available. However, in the specific case of prostate cancer, mortality rates are considered a useful and unbiased indicator for descriptive purposes as incidence rates are usually inflated by a large proportion of preclinical diagnoses due to prostate-specific antigen 10 .…”

Clinical outcomes of prostate cancer patients detected by prostate‐specific antigen‐based population screening in Kanazawa City, Japan

“…2 As in the USA, recent trends show a continuous decrease in prostate cancer mortality rates in several countries. 3 The high rate of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing among middle-aged men might have partially contributed to the decrease in the prostate cancer mortality rate in these countries. 3 In Japan, the rate of screening for prostate cancer is still very low compared with the USA and western Europe, and it has been predicted that the incidence and mortality rates of prostate cancer will increase in the future.…”

“…3 The high rate of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing among middle-aged men might have partially contributed to the decrease in the prostate cancer mortality rate in these countries. 3 In Japan, the rate of screening for prostate cancer is still very low compared with the USA and western Europe, and it has been predicted that the incidence and mortality rates of prostate cancer will increase in the future. [4][5][6] Therefore, more widespread use of PSA testing among middle-aged men is needed.…”

PSA testing in the UK

“…More recently, some countries, for example the USA and to a lesser extent Canada, France, Italy and Spain, 15 experienced a decrease by 2004 such that the mortality rate was below that observed in a period before PSA testing was introduced. In other countries, for example the UK, Australia, Finland and Norway, the mortality rates also decreased in recent years but remained above the level before PSA testing.…”