Prostate cancer, according to the American Cancer Society, is estimated to have been the leader in male cancer diagnoses for 2010. Based on statistics from 2002 to 2006, prostate cancer in men showed the highest incidence rate of all cancers in both men and women, at 155.5 per 100,000. The next closest cancer in that category was female breast cancer at 121.8 per 100,000.

Because of the prevalence of prostate cancer, it is important for men to be aware of the different risk factors associated with the disease and understand which risk factors may impact them the most.

Among the many different risk factors associated with prostate cancer, race has been identified as one of the most important ones in determining an individual's chances of developing the disease.

According to National Cancer Institute statistics from 2003 to 2007, the incidence rate for prostate cancer for all men, regardless of race, was 156.9 per 100,000. Broken down by race, the incidence rates for prostate cancer were as follows:

• 234.6 per 100,000 in African Americans
• 150.4 per 100,000 in Caucasians
• 125.8 per 100,000 in Hispanics
• 90.0 per 100,000 in Asians/Pacific Islanders
• 77.7 per 100,000 in American Indians/Alaskan Natives

Those numbers almost directly correlate to death rates from that same time period. African Americans were again the leader in this category, with 54.2 deaths per 100,000 men, followed by Caucasians at 22.8 per 100,000. Prostate cancer in African Americans actually accounted for over twice as many deaths per 100,000 than the overall death rate for prostate cancer, which is 24.7 deaths per 100,000 men.

Unfortunately, the reasons for this disparity have yet to be discovered. Despite that, if your ethnicity falls under one of the more at-risk groups, you may wish to talk to your doctor about prostate cancer and whether regular early-detection screenings would be right for you.