Racial Disparities in Prostate Cancer: Researchers Focus on Socioeconomic Risk Factors

By: Sarah Lynch
Posted: Tuesday, December 19, 2023

A recent article in Cancers examines the efforts of researchers to analyze the 5-year survival rates of patients with prostate cancer in the United States and how these rates may be affected by health-care access and disease severity. According to Sean A.P. Clouston, PhD, and Christiane J. El Khoury, PharmD, of Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook, New York, most of the disparity in survival outcomes between White and Black men may be attributed to social or clinical differences. The investigators also call for further research to compare the biologic risks of prostate cancer in Black men with socioeconomic barriers and differences between White men and those of other ethnic groups.

“Some evidence suggests that associations between area-level socioeconomic status and prostate cancer survival differ on the geographical scale chosen. The goal of the present study was to describe differences in prostate cancer outcomes across an expanded category of racial/ethnic groups, to examine whether county-level socioeconomic status helped to explain disparities in prostate cancer survival and understand how potential factors influence any established association between county-level socioeconomic status and prostate cancer survival,” the investigators explained.

The research team used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to analyze socioeconomic status at the county level. The 5-year prostate cancer–specific survival Kaplan-Meier protocol was performed for five racial/ethnic categories. A total of 239,613 records were analyzed to yield a 5-year prostate cancer–specific survival rate of 94%.

Upon further analysis, the researchers discovered that living in counties in the lowest-income quintile seemed to increase prostate cancer mortality by 38%, and having the least high school–level education, by 33%. Additionally, racial/ethnic categories often showed different experiences for those living in areas of similar socioeconomic status.

Disclosure: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.

Cancers