Study: Black Patients Twice as Likely to Develop Prostate Cancer
Cedars-Sinai Cancer investigators led a data analysis on more than 6 million patients in the Veterans Health Administration system and concluded that Black patients were twice as likely as white patients to develop prostate cancer. The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Network Open, also found that Black patients with early-stage prostate cancer were more likely than white patients to see their cancer spread.
“One of our key findings was that even in a setting such as the VA where patients have equal access to care, Black patients have a much higher burden from prostate cancer than white patients do,” said Stephen Freedland, MD, director of the Center for Integrated Research in Cancer and Lifestyle at Cedars-Sinai Cancer and senior author of the study, who holds a joint appointment as staff physician at the Durham VA Medical Center. “Our findings also point to important racial differences in risk that a patient’s cancer will progress. This information will help spotlight areas for further investigation so that we can identify ways to help reduce the excess burden and death from prostate cancer among Black patients.”
Additional Authors: Shannon R. Stock, PhD; Michael T. Burns, BA; Justin Waller, MS; Amanda M. De Hoedt, MS; Joshua A. Parrish, BS; Sameer Ghate, PhD; Jeri Kim, MD; Irene M. Shui, PhD
Funding: This work was supported by Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, a subsidiary of Merck & Co. Inc.
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