Survey: age at diagnosis

Dx at 73. Will be 75 this coming December.

46

36... turned 37 before surgery.....youngest at the hospitial to have the robot used, and youngest for surgeon who had done 2k already.....THANK GOD I got a PSA DONE!!!!

52 at dx ,surgery for my 53rd birthday(well 10 days after)

Age 57 with Gleason 7

Remaining cancer free 12 years following surgery

68 when Diagnosed...Prostatectomy scheduled for Sept.2011

48
operated on a month after my 49th birthday
Alf

I just turned fifty when I found out.

Galileo,
I used this poll in the last UsTOO meeting I conducted. I wanted to show the disparity of the age men using the internet for their prostate cancer research versus the median age at diagnosis which is age 67. The folks in this poll are very much younger than the median at Dx. There are 16 men in this poll that are aged 65 and older at Dx, Most men are over this age at Dx nationally. We still have a digital divide in men with prostate cancer and this poll shows it well. It's not perfect, but this poll does raise a few eyebrows. I believe that as we get the baby boomers past the median age at Dx we will see more responding at an older age.

Tony

Regarding the (average) age of people answering this poll as compared to the average age at diagnosis in general.
In addition to how many older people do or do not use the internet, would it not be reasonable to think that younger people are caught out by what is happening to them and need answers, and thus turn to all possible sources not just the internet, whereas old men are perhaps somehow prepared for, or even resigned to, the fact that they are going to have prostate trouble of some sort and that they do not feel the need to search for answers quite so much. (My father who died aged 95 had trouble peeing in his later years and just accepted it as being part of old age, I'm not sure he ever had any investigation done, not even a DRE, and he was a doctor. My brother-in-law who is 76 is not very interested in things PCa related: when he was diagnosed he just had RT and then carried on with life. Another older guy - my father-in-law - also has PCa and he has just been doing AS for over 10 years.)

Alf

Alf, and Galileo,
There may be some point there however...if it were true then I don't understand why the average age in our live UsTOO support group is more in line with average age of diagnosis than this poll is? I see a disparity only with the online group and between the two groups I don't see a disparity in the hunger for information. This is just an observation. There is an extreme difference in the demographics of the two groups. I would say that at least half of my 48 attendees last Thursday were over 65. I have repeated that I would email the meeting invites to save trees and some say they don't even have email. So it is that I have to keep the post cards flowing. Additionally I have a Facebook page for our group that more mimics the results in this poll with the "Likes".

I would be more inclined to believe that the use of the PSA test is responsible for a drop in the average age at DX, but I believe also that there is still a digital divide. We have lots of men here at HW that are over 70 and tech savvy. But they are not the norm. More than half the patients alive are over 70 in the US. There may be some that are not concerned about their cancer, however, that does not line up with the live group I run.

Again just an observation. When I brought the point up there was a response that indicated that there are some folks that just don't trust the computer, or don't use one and not one of those comments were from the below 60 members. Instead they do come out for the meetings. The younger patients in our group are also more likely to follow the FB page.

There was a magical moment when I asked for a show of hands for those of the 48 in attendance that were diagnosed below 50 ~ I was the only hand in the air...

Tony

I was 49 when diagnosed just a week or so before before my 50th birthday. Like Snowbound said worst birthday of my life. I am 51 now last test was 0.00 coming up on a year since my surgery hoping for zeros again. Many people say their doctors didn't tell them this or that, my doctors told me every possible side effect or what could go wrong. Was kind of freaking me out LOL but at least I was prepared. I can function sexually and I'm this close to getting rid of the pads.

If I remember correctly I had a nice 65th birthday present.

All the best from England.