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 ag