Welcome to the "On the Ground" Prostate Cancer Project

Prostate Cancer in NC Incidence and Mortality View the interactive map ←

In 2005 The Institute implemented a comprehensive prostate cancer awareness/education and screening program targeting African Americans in Vance, Warren and Granville counties (some of the state’s poorest communities).

• According to the National Cancer Institute – Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) from 2000-2003 Whites were diagnosed with prostate cancer at a rate of 163.4 per 100,000 men as compared to Blacks at a rate of  258.3 per 100,000 men.
  
  
• Prostate cancer mortality rates for this same period reveal that Whites died at a rate of 26.2 per 100,000 men compared to Blacks at a rate of 64.0 per 100,000.1
  
  
• In 2006, it is estimated that 7,120 men will be diagnosed and 830 men will die from prostate cancer in North Carolina.2

Several North Carolina counties have the highest incidence of and death rate from prostate cancer in the world, irrespective of race.3 While the cause of such rates is unknown, it presents a clear “call for action”.   

The mortality rates from prostate cancer for Granville, Warren and Vance counties ranks among the highest in the state and is also among the highest in the world. 

1. National Cancer Institute. Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Database. Available at: http://seer.cancer.gov/. Accessed July 12, 2006.
   
   
2. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2006. Atlanta, GA. 2006.
   
   
3. Gaston, Kris and Pruthi, Raj. Racial Differences in Prostate Cancer, North Carolina Medical Journal March/April 2006, Volume 67, Number 2