Dead ignorant

Almost 1 in 5 men ‘lethally ignorant’ they even have a prostate, new survey finds

Prostrate Cancer UK has launched a new campaign to raise awareness of the lethal disease.

• over 2,900 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year in Scotland
• over 850 men die from prostate cancer every year in Scotland
• two men die from prostate cancer every day in Scotland.

The charity’s latest research reveals a shocking lack of awareness among men about their own bodies and their risk of prostate cancer, leading to thousands of needless deaths each year – but a new nationwide TV advertising campaign aims to tackle the ignorance head on.

Despite one man every hour dying from prostate cancer, it seems most men still have no idea what the gland does or even that they have one.

PCUK’s new survey of almost 2,000 men found a massive 92% of them had no idea that the prostate helps make the fluid sperm swims in and contains muscles for ejaculation, with more than half not knowing where it was in their body and 17% unaware of it altogether.

Worryingly 88% of men from higher risk groups – those over 50, black or with a family history of the disease – were unaware of their increased danger. An alarming 11% of them believed they were actually at lower risk of developing prostate cancer, and 86% of black men didn’t know they were twice as likely as any other racial group in the UK.

The shocking results coincide with our new nationwide TV advertising campaign, urging men to stop ignoring prostate cancer and join the fight to beat the disease. With enough money and the right action from clinicians and researchers, PCUK believes we can halve the 14,500 men projected to die from prostate cancer in 2026, creating the better diagnosis and treatments that will make it a disease the next generation needn’t fear.

“Ignoring your prostate can be lethal,” says Prostate Cancer UK chief executive, Angela Culhane. “You can’t see it, you can’t feel it, and shockingly many men only realise they have a prostate when it starts to go wrong.

“If men really knew what the prostate can do to them, they wouldn’t ignore it. As a country, we need to wake up and stop men dying needlessly. Ignoring prostate cancer won’t beat it – only fighting it will. Now is the time to join the fight to beat this disease.”