Minireviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Dec 10, 2017; 8(6): 447-449
Published online Dec 10, 2017. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v8.i6.447
With increasing trends of prostate cancer in the Saudi Arabia and Arab World: Should we start screening programs?
Mostafa A Arafa, Danny M Rabah
Mostafa A Arafa, Danny M Rabah, Cancer Research Chair, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 4536, Saudi Arabia
Danny M Rabah, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 4536, Saudi Arabia
Author contributions: All the authors contributed to this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declares no conflict of interest related to this publication.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Mostafa A Arafa, MD, Professor of Epidemiology, Cancer Research Chair, College of Medicine, King Saud University, 3125 King Abdullah street, Riyadh 4536, Saudi Arabia. marafa@ksu.edu.sa
Telephone: +966-5-8129051
Received: April 9, 2017
Peer-review started: April 11, 2017
First decision: July 18, 2107
Revised: October 12, 2017
Accepted: October 30, 2017
Article in press: October 30, 2017
Published online: December 10, 2017
Processing time: 239 Days and 4.6 Hours
Abstract

Incidence rate for prostate cancer in the Arab World is significantly lower than United States and Europe, it ranges from 5.5% to 39.2%. However, the incidence and the number of deaths is expected to increase. In Saudi Arabia, the crude incidence rate and age standardized incidence rate of prostate cancer are reported to be steadily increasing in between 2001-2008. Only two screening trials were attempted in 2001 and 2009 which yielded an incidence rate of 1.17% and 2.5% respectively. Men in the Arab world are sharing a common characteristic of poor knowledge and poor attitude towards prostate cancer examination and screening practices. They are ill-informed about the PSA test’s strengths and drawbacks because the doctors are not talking to them about the importance of counselling. Men should be encouraged to do PSA testing before the age of 50 and till the age of 70 years. This could be achieved by enhancing their attitude and enriching the knowledge of the physicians towards PSA testing, harms and benefits, through shared decision making, which would increase men’s knowledge scores, reduced their decisional conflict and promote greater involvement in decision making.

Keywords: Prostate cancer; Incidence; Arab World; Screening

Core tip: Despite the very low incidence and the number of deaths from prostate cancer in the Arab World, it is expected to increase. In Saudi Arabia, the crude incidence rate and age standardized incidence rate of prostate cancer are reported to be steadily increasing in between 2001-2008. Men in the Arab world are characterized by poor knowledge and poor attitude towards prostate cancer examination and screening practices. We recommend against mass screening, but men should be encouraged to do PSA testing before the age of 50 and till the age of 70 years, through shared decision making.