Cancer Risk: Understanding the Puzzle

Prostate Cancer — Step 3: Take Action To Reduce Your Prostate Cancer Risk	email this page
Doctors cannot tell us right now why some people develop prostate cancer and some do not. They do know that prostate cancer is affected by several factors, such as age, race, and family history. What You Can Do The best action you can take is to be alert to your risk factors and start a dialogue with your doctor about prostate health.

Find out more:
Current research on potential prostate cancer screening tests	Types of prostate cancer tests	Symptoms of prostate cancer

Prostate Cancer Risk Reduction Action Tool
Below are risk factors for prostate cancer. Select the ones you want to work on and to put on your risk reduction list. After you build your list, you can print it out and take it to your doctor to discuss your action plan.

Prostate Cancer Risk Factors	Action List	Select Items To Put On My Risk Reduction Action List
Age	You cannot change your age, but if you know that the risk of prostate cancer increases as you grow older, you can be alert for prostate cancer symptoms and follow your doctor’s instructions for screening. See the links in the blue area above for more information about prostate cancer screening and symptoms.
Race	If you are African American, you should be particularly alert to the symptoms of prostate cancer because your risk is 60 percent higher than that of Whites. If you are White, you have the second highest risk. The risk is lower in all other racial groups, but all groups should be alert to the symptoms. All groups should follow their doctors’ instructions for screening. See the links in the blue area above for more information about prostate cancer screening and symptoms.
Family history of prostate cancer	You can consider genetic counseling. Talk with your doctor about the need to see a genetic counselor if you have prostate cancer in your family. See Elements of Cancer Genetics Risk Assessment and Counseling.