title: 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.
authors.affiliation: Geneva Cancer Registry, Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bouchardy
authors.affiliation: Geneva Cancer Registry, Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fioretta
authors.affiliation: Geneva Cancer Registry, Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rapiti
authors.affiliation: Geneva Cancer Registry, Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.|Department of Community Occupational and Family Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Helena Maria
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Verkooijen
authors.affiliation: Association PROSCA, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Charles Henry
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Rapin
authors.affiliation: Service of Urology, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: France
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schmidlin
authors.affiliation: Service of Radio-oncology, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Miralbell
authors.affiliation: Geneva Cancer Registry, Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.|Piedmont Cancer Registry, CPO, Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zanetti
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000569:Americas / Q000453:epidemiology; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality*
chemical_list: D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen