Prostate Cancer Rates Changing
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
The rate of prostate cancer has fallen sharply among American white men and has nearly leveled off for black men. An analysis of data found rates dropped 16% among white males from 1992 to 1993, and rose 2%, a near stable rate, for black males, according to a report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. From 1989 to 1992, prostate cancer rates increased more than 60% for white and black men. Ray M. Merrill, a National Institutes of Health statistician who compiled the study, said use of a screening test based on the prostate specific antigen starting in the late 1980s may have resulted in earlier cancer detection.
