{"id":746733,"date":"2026-08-23T02:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T02:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/746733\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T02:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T02:06:10","slug":"uk-has-100000-more-men-living-with-prostate-cancer-since-2020-as-cases-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/746733\/","title":{"rendered":"UK has 100,000 more men living with prostate cancer since 2020 as cases surge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"cp_picture__img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/iStock-1453344127.jpg\"\/>Play Brightcove video<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Tony Collier, who was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, spoke about how the diagnosis was a shock and he initially had no symptoms, Emma Volney reports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">The number of men living with prostate cancer in the UK has surged by 100,000 since 2020, a charity has said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Macmillan Cancer Support said the latest figures show more than 68,000 men are newly diagnosed in the UK each year \u2013 the equivalent of one diagnosis every eight minutes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">The charity\u2019s latest estimates show there are now around 600,000 men living with prostate cancer in the UK, compared with around 500,000 in 2020.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">It said prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer diagnosed in the UK.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">The charity has warned that \u201cmyths\u201d surrounding the disease could be preventing men from getting checked.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Dr Anthony Cunliffe, lead medical adviser at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: \u201cOne of the biggest misunderstandings I hear is that feeling well means you cannot have prostate cancer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">\u201cMany people are surprised to learn that, in reality, prostate cancer often develops without symptoms in its early stages, which is why it\u2019s important to have a conversation with your GP if you\u2019re worried.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">The charity said some men with the disease will not see symptoms for many years and symptoms usually occur when the cancer is large enough to press on the urethra \u2013 the tube which passes urine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">When symptoms occur, they include: difficulty urinating; needing to urinate more often than usual, especially at night; a feeling that the bladder has not been completely emptied; an urgency when needing the toilet; blood in urine; blood in semen.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy Clarkson recently revealed he is in remission from prostate cancer. Credit: PA<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Macmillan said it is important for men to speak to their GP if they have any of these symptoms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Dr Cunliffe added: \u201cProstate cancer generally occurs in men over 50 but it can develop earlier in some groups, including black men and men with a family history of prostate cancer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">\u201cAs a GP, if, after discussing testing with a patient, we decide together to go ahead, then we often use a blood test called a PSA (prostate specific antigen).<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">\u201cSome GPs may suggest an examination of the prostate, because it might give them more information, but this isn\u2019t always necessary and declining one won\u2019t be a barrier to having a blood test.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">\u201cSo, whether someone with a prostate has symptoms or not, we would always encourage speaking to the GP for more information about prostate cancer and getting tested.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Subscribe for free to <a class=\"qNUzV q7LZa\" href=\"https:\/\/itvnews.substack.com\/\" data-testid=\"fecp-link-anchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">our weekly newsletter<\/a> for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Earlier this year, the UK National Screening Committee recommended against screening all men using the PSA blood test, saying it is \u201clikely to cause more harm than good\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Experts did recommend that a few thousand high-risk men with a certain gene mutation should be screened for the disease.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Officials also announced that a screening trial will be expanded so that all eligible black men will be invited to take part.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Dr Cunliffe said: \u201cWhile there isn\u2019t one single reason behind the rise in prostate cancer, an ageing and growing population is a big part of the picture.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">\u201cAs people live longer, more are at risk of being diagnosed, as age is one of the biggest risk factors for prostate cancer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">\u201cWe\u2019re also getting better at diagnosing and treating cancer, meaning more people are living longer with and beyond a diagnosis. Alongside that, increased awareness is hugely beneficial, and celebrities including Chris Hoy and Jeremy Clarkson are helping to raise awareness that then encourages people to get checked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know&#8230; <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Play Brightcove video Tony Collier, who was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, spoke about how the diagnosis was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":746734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-746733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/746734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}