Prevalence of Prostate Cancer Among Men Aged 40+ Livingin Osman Gazi Health Care District

Background: Prostate cancer is a risk for men aged 40+ even if it is rarely seen among men under the age of50. It is asymptomatic disease in its early period and if the person does not have an enlarged prostate it will beoverlooked without screening. Consequently, the only way to diagnose prostate cancer in its early period is todetermine the serum PSA (prostate-specific antigen) level of men aged 40+ and to do a digital rectal examination(DRE).
Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of prostate cancer among men aged 40+,to mention the significance of DRE and PSA by means of a training to be done with the aid of a booklet aboutearly diagnosis, and to encourage men to consult a doctor and get the right treatment at the right time.
Methods:The research was a descriptive field study. carried out among 660 men aged 40+ out of 3,285 men who live inOsman Gazi Health Care District, connected with the Presidency of Training and Research Health Group ofBornova. This group was selected as the smallest sample size by the systematic sampling method within the frameof setting the prevalence of prostate cancer at 10%, the confidence interval as 95%, the standard error as 2%.A total of 264 men of the sample group (participation rate 40%) agreed to a survey of International ProstateSymptom Score (I-PSS) projected by the study, and underwent DRE and PSA with a blood sample.
Results:Increase in the serum PSA level (4ng/mL<) was determined in 10 men. Nodules were detected in 3 men togetherwith the increase in PSA. One further nodule was detected only in DRE one examination of 12 participants.In the light of these data, it was decided to conduct a biopsy on 25 people, who had an increase in PSE and/orwhose abnormalities were detected during DRE, in company with TRUS, and prostate cancer was detected inthe biopsies of 5 people (1.89%).
Conclusions: It can be thought that before a decision is made on routinizingprostate cancer screening, it may be more suitable to make randomized controlled screening trials for prostatecancer.