The Effects of Age, Geographical Location and Lifestyle on the Prevalence of Prostate Cancer in Nigerian Men Aged 40 to 65 years: A Case Study of Abia, Anambra, and Imo States

Introduction: This paper presents a study conducted to determine the effects of age, geographical location and lifestyle on the prevalence of prostate cancer in Nigerian men aged 40 to 65years, using Abia, Anambra and Imo states as case study. Methodology: Various hospitals in Abia, Anambra and Imo States were visited from September 2022 to June, 2023 for collection of data on prostate cancer. Patients’ folders of the hospitals were used as source of data, from which records of prostate cancer from 2021 to 2017 were obtained. Patients folders provided ages, geographical locations, number of positive (+) and number of negative (-) cases of prostate cancer, etc. but did not provide information on the lifestyle of the patients. Therefore, while collecting data of 2021 to 2017 cases, a descriptive survey was also conducted, using structured questionnaire administered by purposive sampling to 315 male patients going for prostate cancer screening in the various hospitals. The questionnaire was structured to provide the lifestyle of screened patients in addition to ages and geographical locations of the patients. A total of 304 copies of questionnaire were retrieved after the prostate cancer screening and data collected for the old (2021 – 2017) and new (Sept. 2022 to June, 2023) cases were sorted and analyzed. Prevalence of prostate cancer was calculated for the old and new cases. SPSS Version 29.0 was used to run Chi-square test for associations between the suspected risk factors (age, geographical location and lifestyle)and prostate cancer. Results: The results show that age (P<0.001) and lifestyle (P = 0.042) have significant relationship with prostate cancer. Furthermore, smoking rate (P = 0.024); rate of alcohol consumption (P = 0.031) and rate of body exercise (P = 0.033) have all shown significant association with prostate cancer. However, the relationship between prostate cancer and study location is not statistically significant (P = 0.191, for 2021 – 2017; P = 0.651, for Sept. 2022 – June, 2023). Conclusion: Prostate cancer starts in Nigerian men at the age of 55year with highest occurrence at the age of 62years. Geographical location has no significant effect on the prevalence of prostate cancer in Nigerian men aged 40 to 65years. Lifestyle is a risk factor of prostate cancer in Nigerian men. Prevalence of prostate cancer is most in Abia state, followed by Anambra and Imo States.