Am I more likely to get prostate cancer as I get older?

Sir Cliff Richard has revealed he has been treated for prostate cancer for the past year. The 85-year-old singer said his cancer had ‘gone at the moment’ and backed calls for a national screening test for men. Camilla Foster spoke to Prostate Cancer UK about how the risk of prostate cancer changes as we age

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EGENDARY singer and actor Sir Cliff Richard has publicly spoken out about how he was diagnosed with prostate cancer after a health check ahead of a tour, revealing he has been receiving treatment for the past year.

‘The 85-year-old singer said his cancer had “gone at the moment” and backed calls for a national screening test for men in an interview on ITV's Good Morning Britain.

During the interview, Richard said: “1 don’t know whether it’s going to come back. We can’t tell those sort of things but we need to, absolutely, I'm convinced, get there, get tested, get checked”

‘The singer - who is known for decades of hits including The Young Ones, We Don’t Talk Anymore and Summer Holiday - said he was diagnosed after a health check for his insurance ahead of a concert tour of Australia and New Zealand.

In light of this news, we spoke to Amy Rylance, assistant director of health improvement at Prostate Cancer UK, about how the risk of prostate cancer changes as we age. She also highlighted some other risk factors to be aware of.

What causes prostate cancer and how does age play into this?

“Prostate cancer is caused when the cells within the prostate mutate to a point where they're not growing normally, and they start to grow much more quickly” explains Rylance. “What we knows that as we age, those mutations happen more frequently in our bodies, so that’s why across many different cancers your risk of cancer goes up as you get older”

At what age do cases of prostate cancer tend to peak?