African American and white men who receive comparable treatments for prostate cancer have similar survival

Last year, we reported on two studies showing that African American men respond at least as well as white men to prostate cancer treatments given in clinical trials. Nationally, African Americans with prostate cancer are more than twice as likely to die of the disease as their white counterparts, and that has fueled speculation that genetic or biological factors put them at greater risk. But according to this new research, the survival difference disappears when men of either race get the same cutting-edge treatments. Now scientists are reporting that African American and white men with prostate cancer live equally as long if they’re treated by the same care delivery system. Benefits from equal access care For this study, a team from the University of California at San Diego looked at survival data from 60,035 men who had been diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer by the US Veterans Administration (VA) Health Care System between 2000 and 2015. VA hospitals provide the same subsidized care to all eligible veterans, regardless of their socioeconomic standing. So, African American men cared for by that system don’t experience the delays in diagnosis or treatment that they can often face in the general population. Of the men included in the study, 18,201 were African American and 41,834 were white. The African Americans tended to be diagnosed at younger ages, lived in areas with lower median incomes, and had less education and more additional health problems than ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health Living With Prostate Cancer Prostate Knowledge Treatments HPK Source Type: blogs