AUA Foundation, GOLF Magazine
team up to educate men about prostate cancer
Newswise — The American Urological Association
(AUA) Foundation and GOLF Magazine have teamed up to launch
Get on Par with Prostate Cancer, a national awareness campaign to
educate men about prostate cancer, their risk for the disease, and
the TEAM Approach to managing it. At the heart of the initiative is
Prostate GOLF, an online, interactive “golf-themed” prostate cancer
risk assessment tool developed by the AUA Foundation together with
sanofi-aventis.
The risk assessment tool – housed on
www.UrologyHealth.org
– uses the desirability of low scores in golf as a parallel with the
desirability of having low prostate-specific antigen (PSA) scores to
help educate men about prostate cancer. Men are encouraged to “play”
a round of the game to learn about their risk for the disease. Those
who receive a high score are at a greater risk, and should visit a
urologist. If a man is diagnosed with advanced or progressed
disease, his urologist may take a team approach by involving a group
of medical specialists in order to best explore all available
treatment options.
The program coincides with the launch of
GOLF Magazine’s redesigned Web site (http://www.GOLF.com),
which lets visitors link directly to
www.UrologyHealth.org
and the risk assessment tool. To encourage men to participate in the
program, GOLF Magazine will make a $10 donation to the AUA
Foundation to help raise public awareness about urologic health
issues for each annual subscription purchased by a participant who
uses the tool. GOLF Magazine will continue to make $10 contributions
to the AUA Foundation for subsequent renewals of subscriptions
generated from the program. Visitors to either UrologyHealth.org or
GOLF.com have the opportunity to learn about the program and to
participate in the promotion.
“GOLF is extremely pleased to be working with the AUA Foundation and
sanofi-aventis to educate men about prostate cancer, which is one of
the most common cancers among men,” said David Clarke, GOLF
Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief. “By virtue of our sizeable
readership base of men aged 45 years or older, we have a unique
opportunity to directly reach those individuals most at risk for
prostate cancer. We encourage all men to click on the Prostate GOLF
link on GOLF.com to learn as much as they can about their risk for
prostate cancer”
“The online tool offers men a quick and
uncomplicated means of assessing their risk for prostate cancer,”
said J. Brantley Thrasher, M.D., professor and chair of urology at
the University of Kansas Medical Center. “For men who are over the
age of 50, or in higher risk groups such as African Americans or
those who have a family history of the disease, the benefit of
understanding risk and being screened appropriately cannot be
overstated.”
Get on Par with Prostate Cancer is part of an
ongoing national awareness initiative, The TEAM Approach: Prostate
Cancer Treatment, Education, Awareness and Management, begun in
2004. The TEAM Approach aims to make men with prostate cancer, their
partners and others in the support network aware of the importance
of identifying a multidisciplinary team of specialists to help them
determine an optimal course of action for treating the disease.
“A urologist may consider involving other
medical specialists to best treat patients with prostate cancer with
advanced or progressed disease,” Dr. Thrasher added. “This team
could include a urologist, a medical oncologist and a radiation
oncologist among others.”
Men are encouraged to seek evaluation,
diagnosis and treatment for these urological conditions by a
Board-certified urologist, who will consider their individual needs
and concerns.
Get on Par with Prostate Cancer is a
collaborative initiative between the AUA Foundation, GOLF
Magazine and sanofi-aventis.
About Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer ranks third among cancers in worldwide incidence and
is the sixth leading cause of cancer deaths among men annually. One
in six American men will develop prostate cancer in his lifetime,
and an estimated 234,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer
this year. Men age 50 and up should have a PSA test and digital
rectal exam annually. Those at high risk for prostate cancer, such
as African-American men and those with a family history of the
disease, should begin testing at an earlier age.
About the American Urological Association
Foundation
Founded in 1987 as the American Foundation for Urologic Disease and
headquartered near Baltimore, MD, the Foundation's mission is to
support and promote research, patient/public education and advocacy
that improve the prevention, detection and treatment of urologic
diseases. To this end, its vision is to be the premiere provider and
resource for the most current, comprehensive and reliable urologic
health information for patients and the public.
About GOLF
GOLF.com is the top online golf destination for avid golfers and is
the official Web site of GOLF Magazine, the game's most
popular publication. Part of the Time Warner family, GOLF.com is
also affiliated with SI.com, the Web site of Sports Illustrated, and
PGA.com, the official Web site of the PGA of America. GOLF.com
contains original features, daily news coverage and scores, and
majors and special event coverage, as well as editorial content from
GOLF Magazine and SI Golf Plus.
