MONDAY, Nov. 6, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Even with the identical prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, Black men usually tend to have prostate cancer than white men, recent research shows.
The findings point to the necessity for earlier and more frequent screening, the researchers noted.
It’s already known that Black men in america usually tend to develop prostate cancer than their white peers. After diagnosis, they’re also more prone to have advanced disease and to die.
The brand new research suggests that at any PSA level, Black men usually tend to harbor prostate cancer than white men.
The research included greater than 75,000 Black men and greater than 207,000 white men who were receiving care from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
The researchers used modeling to predict the likelihood of prostate cancer diagnosis from a primary biopsy.
Prostate cancer was detected in the primary biopsy in 55% of Black men and in 43% of white men, the investigators found.
After accounting for other aspects, Black veterans were 50% more prone to receive a prostate cancer diagnosis based on their first prostate biopsy than white Veterans were, in keeping with the report published online Nov. 6 within the journal CANCER.
Black men with a pre-biopsy PSA of 4.0 ng/mL had a 49% risk of prostate cancer detected during their biopsy. This in comparison with a 39% risk for white men with the identical PSA level.
Even worse, Black veterans with a PSA of 4.0 ng/mL had an equivalent risk of prostate cancer as white Veterans with a PSA of 13.4 ng/mL, the findings showed.
“These findings suggest that to scale back health disparities for veterans within the prevention of prostate cancer, clinicians should consider a person veteran’s risk for prostate cancer including aspects corresponding to race and age,” said first study creator Kyung Min Lee, of the VA Informatics and Computing Infrastructure throughout the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System.
“Clinicians may consider earlier screening for populations at greater than average risk, which incorporates Black men,” he added in a journal news release.
The VA recommends that, for average risk men aged 55 to 69 years, any decision to initiate or proceed prostate cancer screening with PSA needs to be individualized, said Dr. Jane Kim, executive director for Preventive Medicine within the VA.
“This includes consideration of age, family history, race/ethnicity, medical conditions, and patient values, in addition to potential advantages versus harms,” Kim added.
“Per the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, before deciding whether to be screened, men must have a possibility to debate the advantages and harms of screening through shared decision making with their clinicians,” Kim advised.
More information
The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more on prostate cancer.
SOURCE: CANCER, news release, Nov. 6, 2023