Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide and a leading cause of mortality.Incidences continues to rise and vary substantially between populations. Although the prevalence of prostatecancer is relatively low in Vietnam, some hospital-based reports have shown an upward trend in recent years.While certain non-modifiable factors such as age, race and genetics are known to be mainly responsible, theliterature has also suggested that environmental exposures can delay the onset of this disease. The present studyprovides a review of the epidemiology of prostate cancer in Vietnam by systematically searching several electronicdatabases. The results confirm an increasing trend of prostate cancer over the past decade, with age-standardisedrate more than doubled from 2.2 per 100,000 men in 2000 to 4.7 per 100,000 men in 2010. However, no study hasbeen found on modifiable risk factors, with the exception of one in vitro experiment that showed the inhibitoryeffect of garlic on the growth of prostate cancer cells. The lack of epidemiological information poses a difficultyto develop public health interventions to prevent this emerging malignant disease in Vietnam.
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