Overall Mortality: 1979-1996
The number of deaths due to prostate cancer rose from 744 in 1979 to 1,201 in 1993. In 1996 the number of prostate cancer deaths was 1,130. The age-adjusted mortality rate (number of deaths per 100,000 men per year) rose similarly from 22.7 in 1979 to 29.0 in 1993 and declined slightly thereafter (see Figures 10 and 11 and Appendix II, Table 10).
*Age-adjusted to 1970 U.S. standard population
Age-Adjusted Mortality Rates by Race: 1979-1996
Black men consistently had about twice the mortality rates for prostate cancer as white men during the years covered in this report, a pattern also found for the nation as a whole (see Figure 12 and Appendix II, Table 10). The greater fluctuations in the rates of black men compared with white men reflect the smaller number of individuals, which tend to produce more variability in rates over time.
*Age-adjusted to the 1970 U.S. standard population
Age-Specific Mortality Rates by Race: 1979 - 1996
For 1979 through 1996, both the white and black age-specific mortality rates for the ten-year age groups increased and the gap between whites and blacks widened with each successive age group (see Figure 13 and Appendix II, Table 11) This pattern for mortality generally mirrored that of incidence.
Age-Adjusted Mortality Rates by County: 1979 -1996
The age-adjusted mortality rates for the years 1979 through 1996 varied among the 21 counties in New Jersey (see Table 3). It can be seen that for all men combined, the highest death rates were in Atlantic, Cape May, Essex, Gloucester, and Mercer counties. For white men, the highest rates were seen in Cape May, Gloucester, Middlesex, and Sussex, while for black men the highest mortality rates were in Bergen, Gloucester, Ocean, and Union counties. When the numbers of people become relatively small, as they are in some instances in this county-specific table, the rates become very sensitive to small fluctuations in the number of cases.
Prostate Cancer Mortality And Mortality Rates
By County And Race, New Jersey -1979-1996*
| COUNTY | RACE | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALL RACES | WHITE | BLACK | ||||
| No. | Rate | No. | Rate | No. | Rate | |
| Atlantic | 612 | 27.0 | 459 | 23.5 | 150 | 49.6 |
| Bergen | 1,966 | 23.2 | 1,819 | 22.5 | 133 | 56.5 |
| Burlington | 692 | 25.9 | 592 | 24.2 | 98 | 52.4 |
| Camden | 935 | 24.3 | 742 | 21.8 | 188 | 48.3 |
| Cape May | 357 | 27.3 | 340 | 27.0 | 17 | - |
| Cumberland | 294 | 23.6 | 243 | 21.7 | 50 | 46.6 |
| Essex | 2,011 | 30.0 | 1,178 | 23.0 | 823 | 53.6 |
| Gloucester | 428 | 27.7 | 346 | 25.2 | 81 | 54.0 |
| Hudson | 1,133 | 24.0 | 956 | 22.3 | 162 | 50.9 |
| Hunterdon | 178 | 24.7 | 175 | 24.5 | - | - |
| Mercer | 739 | 27.1 | 572 | 24.0 | 164 | 50.2 |
| Middlesex | 1,240 | 26.3 | 1,146 | 25.8 | 87 | 47.1 |
| Monmouth | 1,252 | 26.1 | 1,101 | 24.9 | 149 | 47.4 |
| Morris | 764 | 25.7 | 735 | 25.5 | 23 | 47.0 |
| Ocean | 1,573 | 23.9 | 1,543 | 23.8 | 29 | 61.7 |
| Passaic | 928 | 23.4 | 804 | 21.7 | 118 | 49.2 |
| Salem | 157 | 24.1 | 116 | 20.5 | 41 | 48.5 |
| Somerset | 365 | 21.4 | 338 | 20.9 | 24 | 42.3 |
| Sussex | 215 | 25.9 | 215 | 26.1 | 0 | - |
| Union | 1,310 | 26.7 | 1,076 | 24.2 | 233 | 54.8 |
| Warren | 200 | 24.6 | 195 | 24.2 | 5 | - |
| STATE | 17,351 | 25.4 | 14,693 | 23.5 | 2,577 | 51.3 |
*Mortality rates per 100,000 men, age-adjusted to the 1970 U.S. standard population. Rates were not calculated when numbers were less than 20. Numbers of cases less than five are not shown.
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