A surge in men checking their risk of prostate cancer has been linked to high-profile announcements from public figures about their own diagnoses.
Jeremy Clarkson and former prime minister David Cameron have been credited with driving record numbers of men to Prostate Cancer UK’s online assessment tool.
The charity reported a dramatic increase in traffic to its 30-second risk checker following the men’s public revelations.
Data showed that 50,880 men completed the assessment in the week after Clarkson disclosed his condition on the television series Clarkson’s Farm, compared with 8,425 the preceding week.
Similarly, 22,562 men used the tool the day after Lord Cameron announced his diagnosis, a rise from 2,175 on the equivalent Monday.
Prostate Cancer UK stated that it had received communications from men whose conditions were identified as a direct result of these revelations.
Clarkson, a 66-year-old farmer from Chipping Norton, indicated that his disclosure had proven worthwhile if it prompted even a single man to address the issue.
The television presenter confirmed he was in remission after confirming he had received a diagnosis of aggressive prostate cancer during the programme’s most recent series.
Lord Cameron, who resides in Dean near Chipping Norton, expressed strong support for initiatives designed to increase awareness of the disease.
Official figures from Prostate Cancer UK revealed that approximately 280,000 men assessed their risk during the two-month period following Sir Chris Hoy’s public announcement about his diagnosis.
Since the online risk checker was introduced in 2020, more than five million men have completed the assessment.
The charity highlighted that prostate cancer represents the most commonly diagnosed malignancy affecting men in the United Kingdom.
Amy Rylance, Prostate Cancer UK’s director of health services, equity and improvement, noted that many men continued to receive diagnoses by chance and often at stages when curative treatment was no longer possible.
She explained that the risk checker provided men with a means of understanding their individual risk profile and the options available to them.
Rylance emphasised that personal accounts from public figures had generated conversations that proved potentially life-saving for some individuals.
She stated that the organisation remained committed to securing a safe and effective national screening programme and that its Transform trial would provide the evidence required to achieve this objective.
The two men joined Rishi Sunak and Stephen Fry in signing a letter last week that called for the establishment of a national screening programme targeting those at highest risk of the disease.