MENUReport: Black men with high-risk prostate cancer less likely to get aggressive treatment
Reuters reports on a study published in European Urology that shows that black men in America with medium- and high-risk prostate tumors are less likely to get aggressive treatment than white men are.
The study looked at data from the national cancer registry for men diagnosed with prostate tumors between 2004 and 2013. Of the 356 facilities included in the study, 39 percent "were significantly more likely to give aggressive therapy to white men than to black men with similar tumors," according to the report, while just 1% of facilities were more likely to more-aggressively treat black men.
Simpa Salami, MBBS, urologic oncologist at Michigan Medicine, says that the study does not take into account whether some patients opted against more aggressive treatment because of side effects like urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
"We do not know if black men were offered definitive therapy at the same rate as white men but chose other options instead, or if black men were simply not offered the same treatment options as white men," Salami said by email.
Read the full report on Reuters.com: Blacks with prostate cancer less likely to get ideal treatment.