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Prostate Cancer Awareness Week: Know your numbers

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Contributed by: E Rodriguez on 9/13/2007

It may not be as easy as 1-2-3, but screening for prostate cancer is all about the numbers.

For over a decade, the Prostate Cancer Education Council (PCEC) has provided free and low-cost screenings to men during the third week of September, called Prostate Cancer Awareness Week (PCAW).

Prostate cancer often has no early warning signs or symptoms, but screening can detect the cancer in its earliest stages when it is most curable. The key is to know your numbers.

Screenings provide a baseline Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) number, obtained through a simple blood test. Yearly screenings can detect fluctuations in PSA levels that, in turn, could indicate prostate problems. This simple math has saved hundreds of lives, but it is also important to remember a few other numbers - they may save your life.

30.
At least when it comes to a man's waist, size does matter. Men with a Body Mass Index (BMI) over 30 are more likely to be diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and more likely to have a recurrence of the disease after treatment. Mortality rates were also significantly higher in men with BMI scores over 30, compared to those men with BMI scores less than 25. Don't know your number? Try this easy chart at http://www.consumer.gov/weightloss/bmi.htm.

Additionally, scientists are studying the role a man's waist-to-height ratio (WtHR) in assessing overall health. Men with a BMI range of 25 to 34.9 who have a waist size of over 40 inches are considered to be at especially high risk for health problems, including prostate cancer. Don't know your WtHR? Divide your waist size by your height. If the result is greater than 50 percent, see your doctor.

35.
Men with a family history of prostate cancer are at a much higher risk for the disease than the general population. PCEC recommends that these men start yearly screenings at age 35. Similarly, African-American men have the highest occurrence rates of prostate cancer in the world - they are twice as likely to develop the disease and twice as likely to die from it.

Fall into one of these groups? Save your life. Click here for a free screening site near you.

40.
Yes, it is true that prostate cancer reveals very few symptoms, even at its most advanced stages. But there is one quickly identifiable physical condition that every man knows: his age. Are you a male over 40? The Prostate Cancer Education Council recommends a yearly screening that includes a physical exam and a blood test. Call your doctor or go to a PCAW screening site.

100.
If prostate cancer is caught in its early stages, it is nearly 100 percent survivable. The best way to catch prostate cancer early? Yearly screenings. Since PCAW was initiated in 1989, nearly 60 percent of new prostate cancer cases are discovered when they are still localized and potentially curable, indicating a dramatic increase in awareness among the general public about the importance of early detection.

Prostate cancer often has no early warning signs or symptoms, but this year, from Sept. 16 through Sept. 22, men can save their lives just by knowing their numbers. The PCEC screening sites test all areas of a man's health -- from Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) levels to testosterone and cholesterol levels to Body Mass Index. For more information go to www.pcaw.com.

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