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Sandy Srinivas, MD
Sandy Srinivas, MD
Posted: Tuesday, June 13, 2023
New research by Chris Gillette, PhD, of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and colleagues indicates that American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) men appear to be less likely to be screened for prostate cancer than non-Hispanic White men. As reported in Cancer Causes & Control, the team’s study found significantly lower rates of both digital rectal exams and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood tests in the AI/AN population. The investigators believe further research is needed to determine why this might be the case, especially given disproportionately greater prostate cancer mortality in AI/AN men versus men of other racial/ethnic identities.
The study analyzed National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) data sets from 2013 to 2016 and 2018 as well as NAMCS Community Health Center (CHC) data sets from 2012 to 2015. NAMCS represents visits to nonfederal office-based physician clinics, whereas CHC includes visits to community health centers, federally qualified health centers, and Indian Health Service clinics.
“Our findings highlight a significant health-care disparity in accessing care,” said Dr. Gillette in a Wake Forest press release. “The most alarming finding is that there were zero instances of digital rectal exams in the NAMCS data set over the entire 5-year period, and there were no PSAs conducted in American Indian/Alaska Native men after 2014.”
In the NAMCS data set, PSA blood tests were ordered for AI/AN men at a rate of 1.67 per 100 visits versus 9.35 per 100 visits for non-AI/AN men. No digital rectal examinations were ordered for AI/AN men versus 2.52 per 100 visits for non-AI/AN men. The CHC data showed PSAs at 4.26 per 100 visits for AI/AN men versus 5 per 100 visits for non-AI/AN men, and DREs at 0.63 per 100 visits versus 1.05 per 100.
Disclosure: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.
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