Sounding Alarm About Disease

Older age is a big risk factor. Genetics and environment are believed to play roles, too. A poor diet and high tobacco or alcohol use are considered risks, as is family history. Men with fathers, brothers or sons with the disease are more than twice as likely to develop it.

Through the pilot program, screenings will be offered free to Charles men who are at least 50 with either no insurance or high deductibles on their policy. The eligible age drops to 40 for those who are at high risk for the disease.

The blood test measures the amount of a protein produced in the prostate gland and typically is done regularly to measure changes over time. An elevated level can have a number of causes and does not necessarily mean cancer; a biopsy is required to confirm that.

Those offered treatment could have surgery to remove their prostate gland or radiation or take the watchful waiting course.

Unlike mammograms, which have been shown to reduce death rates from breast cancer, the effectiveness of prostate tests is debated by cancer specialists. But for now it is what's available.

The nagging question for health researchers is why the county's cancer rate exceeds that of Prince George's or Baltimore, communities with far larger black populations. Prostate cancer struck African American men in Prince George's at a rate of 201.6 per 100,000 people in 2002.

"In the long term, we want to know the root of the disparities," Baquet said. "In the short term, we're seeing a population that's saying, 'I did not go in for screening because I didn't have insurance' or 'I was afraid.' While you're waiting for all the answers, you can't just do nothing."