26th March, 2012
No fewer than 20, 000 Nigerian men die yearly of prostate cancer, Dr. Ademola Popoola, a urologist at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, has said.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview in Ilorin that the death rate from prostate cancer had, however, declined in developed countries.
Popoola said the figure showed that the ailment had been on the increase in Nigeria and other sub-Sahara African countries.
“The death rate of prostate cancer has shown a steady decline all over the world in recent years but in Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries, the reverse is the case as more death continue to occur as a result of the increasing rate of the disease,” he said.
He said that although men of any age bracket could have prostate cancer, it was prevalent in men over 50 years of age.
Popoola said that the causes of the disease were still unknown to medicine.
“Men of any age could have prostate cancer but it is found most often in men over the age of 50 years.
“More than 80 percent of men with prostate cancer are over the age of 65,” he said.
“No one knows the exact cause of prostate cancer and doctors often cannot explain why one man develops it and another does not,” he said.