Introduction Prostate cancer is one of the leading cause of death among Thai males. In Thailand, whether mortality rates of prostate cancer have been increasing from1998 to 2006. This study aimed to examine trends in age-specific and age-standardised mortality rates for prostate cancer among Thai population.

Methods Mortality data during 1998–2006 were analysed based on ICD-10 for prostate cancer from Bureau of Health Policy and Planning, Ministry of Public Health. Both 5-year age-specific and age-standardised mortality rates per 100 000 were calculated and descriptively analysed for trends.

Results The results have shown that during 1998–2006, age-standardised mortality rates for prostate cancer increased from 0.38 to 1.56 for males. For each year, prostate cancer mortality rates increased with age and peaked at age 70 and over. In 2006, the highest mortality rates were 45.76 for male.

Conclusion The prostate cancer mortality rates had increased at least fourfold in 8 years for both sexes. The increase in mortality might be explained by the increased in risk factors including increase in ageing of the population, eating habit characterised by high fat, obesity, and hormonal factors. Health policymakers should increase its effort in controlling and reducing the risk factors by promoting healthy behaviours such as healthy diet. It is also important to make an effort to inform the profile of prostate-specific antigen testing for screening prostate cancer.