Prostate cancer in Saudi Arabia in 2002

Epidemiologic studies revealed that there are variations in the geographic and ethnic distribution of cancer of the prostate (CaP) gland. This cancer varies dramatically between being very common in black American men, to rare in Asian and Chinese men. Genetic, familial predisposition and environmental factors in addition to methods of cancer detection and reporting contribute to these variations. Prostate cancer is the ninth most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world yet it ranks first in the United States of America (USA) where resources allow large epidemiological studies. The health policy makers take major decisions such as mass population screening according to data derived from such studies that include information on disease specific mortality rates and incidence rates for each of the ethnic sub-populations living in the USA. Until now, we do not have similar information in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA); therefore, policy decisions should consider the possibility of the difference in situations since genetic, familial and environmental conditions are different. Our current local data, although little, indicates that prostate cancer occurs at a lower incidence rate than western countries. The objective of this article is to provide all the available information on the different aspects of CaP gland in KSA. A second more important objective is to attract the attention of the future expectations that need preparation since the possibility of disease prevention does exist.