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Black Men Less Likely to Be Treated for Prostate Cancer |
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FRIDAY, April 2 (HealthDayNews) -- Black men with aggressive prostate cancer are less likely to receive surgery or radiation therapy than white men with the same cancer, and that may explain why blacks are more likely to die from the disease.
That's the conclusion of a University of Michigan Health System study in the April issue of the Journal of Urology.
The researchers compared prostate cancer treatments for 142,340 black, white and Hispanic men from 1992 to 1999. The data came from the U.S. National Cancer Institute.
Black men with moderate grade cancers were 36 percent less likely than white men to receive treatment and Hispanic men were 16 percent less likely than white men to receive treatment.
When it came to aggressive cancers, black men were 50 percent less likely and Hispanic men were 23 percent less likely than white men to receive treatment.
"We know that African-American men are more likely to die from prostate cancer. However, when they are diagnosed with the most aggressive cancers, they are less likely to receive definitive treatment. This could possibly impact the reported racial disparity in prostate cancer mortality," lead author Dr. Willie Underwood, an associate professor of urology surgery, said in a prepared statement.
"While research has focused on a genetic cause for increased mortality in African-Americans, treatment disparities is something that could be addressed in the context of health policy. Equal treatment for equal disease is something that should be achievable," Underwood said.
More information
The American Cancer Society has more about prostate cancer.
(SOURCE: University of Michigan Health System, news release, April 2004)
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