Joe Biden diagnosed with prostate cancer: Here's all you need know about the disease, its causes, symptoms, and survival rate

Joe Biden, the previous American president who left office this January, was diagnosed with prostate cancer at the weekend. The diagnosis came around an year after Biden had to drop out of the 2024 US presidential race amid rising concerns over his health. His office said in a statement on Sunday the cancer had spread to his bones and had been classified as "high-grade." The news has raised a flurry of questions around prostate cancer, what causes it, and how the disease can be prevented. Let us brief you about them here.

What is prostate cancer and how common is it?
Prostate cancer occurs when cells in the prostate gland grow out of control. The prostate is a small gland part of the male reproductive system. It is located below the bladder and in front of the rectum.
Prostate cancer is the second most common form of cancer among men, after skin cancer, according to the American medical center Cleveland Clinic. Thirteen out of every 100 men will develop prostate cancer at some point in their lives, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says.

What are its symptoms?
Prostate cancer may not present symptoms initially. When they begin to appear, symptoms may include the following:

• Blood in the urine.
• Blood in semen.
• Urge to urinate more often than usual
• Having difficulty in urinating.

If the cancer spreads to other parts of the body, symptoms can include accidental urine leakage, back pain, bone pain, feeling exhaustion, loss of weight, and weakness in limbs.

What causes prostate cancer?
It's not clear what exactly causes prostate cancer, but there are certain factors that raise the risk of the disease. These include old age, obesity, tobacco smoking, and having someone in the family with the disease.

Survival rate
A person's survival chances after being diagnosed with prostate cancer vary on a range of factors. However, most with early-stage prostate cancer live for several years. Even when detected at an advanced stage, patients can expect to live for years with proper treatment.