Prostate Cancer Incidence and Mortality Rates and Trends in the United States and Canada

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare prostate cancer incidence and mortality trends between the United States and Canada over a period of approximately 30 years.

Methods: Prostate cancer incident cases were chosen from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program to estimate rates for the United States white males and from the Canadian Cancer Registry for Canadian men. National vital statistics data were used for prostate cancer mortality rates for both countries, and age-adjusted and age-specific incidence and mortality rates were calculated. Joinpoint analysis was used to identify significant changes in trends over time.

Results: Canada and the U.S. experienced 3.0% and 2.5% growth in age-adjusted incidence from 1969-90 and 1973-85, respectively. U.S. rates accelerated in the mid- to late 1980s. Similar patterns occurred in Canada with a one-year lag. Annual age-adjusted mortality rates in Canada were increasing 1.4% per year from 1977-93 then fell 2.7% per year from 1993-99. In the U.S., annual age-adjusted mortality rates for white males increased 0.7% from 1969-1987 and 3.0% from 1987-91, then decreased 1.2% and 4.5% during the 1991-94 and 1994-99 periods, respectively.

Conclusions: Recent incidence patterns observed between the U.S. and Canada suggest a strong relationship to prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test use. Clinical trials are required to determine any effects of PSA test use on prostate cancer and overall mortality.