Louisiana Men at Higher Risk for Prostate Cancer

March 11, 2012
by Lauren Finnigan
Yahoo! News

Louisiana has received another title it would rather not have: It has the fourth-highest rate of deaths because of prostate cancer, according to Zero, The Project to End Prostate Cancer. Here are the details.

* The state has the sixth highest incidence of prostate cancer in the country.

* Two of the risk factors researchers found is the high obesity rate and the high percentage of black males in the state.

* The obesity rate of 31.6 percent is the fifth highest in the country, according to Trust for America's Health,

* People who are obese are more likely to die from the cancer.

* Blacks make up 32 percent of the population in Louisiana.

* Prostate cancer rates are 60 percent higher in blacks than any other group of people.

* Prostate cancer seems to be more aggressive in blacks, according to the Mayo Clinic.

* Black males with this cancer are 2 1/2 times more likely to die from the disease.

* Of the incidences of prostate cancer, 10 percent have a hereditary link to them; meaning the disease is passed down through families, according to The Louisiana Weekly.

* Another risk factor researchers have pinpointed is black men go to less healthy doctor visits, which would lower the chances of the disease spreading.

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