Racial and ethnic differences in advanced-stage prostate cancer: the prostate cancer outcomes study

Background: African-Americans have twice the risk of non-Hispanic whites fo r presenting with advanced-stage prostate cancer. To investigate the reason s for this difference, we evaluated the association between race/ ethnicity and advanced-stage prostate cancer, adjusting for demographic, socioeconom ic, clinical, and pathologic factors. Methods: A population-based cohort of 3173 men diagnosed with prostate cancer between October 1, 1994, and Octob er 31, 1995, was analyzed. Medical record abstracts and self-administered s urvey questionnaires were used to obain information regarding race/ethnicit y, age, marital status, insurance status, educational level, household inco me, employment status, comorbidity, urinary function, prostate-specific ant igen level, tumor grade, and clinical stage. The odds ratio (OR) for advanc ed-stage prostate cancer was estimated with weighted logistic regression an alysis. All P values were two-sided. Results: Clinically advanced-stage pro state cancers were detected more frequently in African-Americans (12.3%) an d Hispanics (10.5%) than in non-Hispanic whites (6.3%). Socioeconomic, clin ical, and pathologic factors each accounted for about 15% of the increased relative risk. After adjusting for all covariates, the risk remained statis tically significantly increased for African-Americans (OR = 2.26; 95% confi dence interval [CI] = 1.43 to 3.58) but not for Hispanics (OR = 1.23; 95% C I = 0.73 to 2.08). Conclusion: Traditional socioeconomic, clinical, and pat hologic factors accounted for the increased relative risk for presenting wi th advanced-stage prostate cancer in Hispanic but not in African-American m en.