Epidemiological Investigation of Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer diagnosed in Western populations. Autopsy studies have shown that with increasing age, the majority of men will develop microscopic foci of cancer (often termed “latent” prostate cancer) and that this is true in populations that are at both high and low risk for the invasive form of the disease (1 ). However, only a small percentage of men will develop invasive prostate cancer. The prevalence of prostate cancer is, thus, very common; but to most men, prostate cancer will be only incidental to their health and death.