Men in Israel have one the highest survivability rates against prostate cancer compared to other countries around the world.
The country’s Health Ministry announced this week that Israel’s death rate from the disease is one of the lowest globally, ranking at 143, according to Jerusalem Post. Moreover, the data released by the agency noted that Arab men overall are less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer.
However, Israel’s incidence rate, or how quickly disease occurs in a population, is ranked higher at 58th in the world.
The agency relied on data from Israel’s latest cancer registry figures from 2019, which show that 2,493 men were diagnosed with invasive prostate cancer. Of those diagnosed, the overwhelming majority were Jewish, representing 94.5%, and only 5% were Arab.
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A similar trend continued to show in data of those living in Israel who were diagnosed with the cancer between 2015 and 2019. Of the 10,725 cases, over 10,000 were Jews, while Arabs only represented 602 cases.
Despite the low risk of death, prostate cancer still remains the most common cancer found among men in Israel, as well as the fourth most common cancer for mortality. The number of Israeli males who died from cancer in 2019 was 493, with most of the deaths occurring over the age of 75.
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From 1996 until 2019, Israel saw a significant reduction in death rates, while most deaths that did occur had an average male age of 81 for Jewish men and 77 for Arab males. The health ministry released these findings to the public near the end of September, which is World Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.
In terms of risk factors for prostate cancer, family disease history, genetic mutations, and age are the main contributors. However, certain lifestyle choices such as tobacco smoking, diet, and gland inflammation may play a role.
