Health related quality of life differences between black and white men with prostate cancer: Data from the cancer of the prostate strategic urologic research endeavor

Purpose: Understanding the potential consequences of racial differences in prostate cancer outcomes, from survival rates to quality of life considerat ions, is important for the clinician and patient. We examined demographic, clinical and health related quality of life data comparing black with white patients just after treatment of prostate cancer and 1 year later. Materials and Methods: We analyzed data on 1,178 patients who were newly di agnosed with prostate cancer in the Cancer of the Prostate Strategic Urolog ic Research Endeavor, a national observational database of men recruited fr om 35 community and academic urology practices throughout the United States . Patient demographics, clinical characteristics and validated health relat ed quality of life questionnaires were reviewed. A total of 958 white and 1 61 black patients with prostate cancer who completed at least 2 surveys wer e compared. Results: The black patients were younger; and had lower income and educatio n levels than white patients. Controlling for age, education and income dif ferences, black patients generally had worse clinical characteristics at pr esentation and lower baseline health related quality of life data scores in most generic and disease specific categories at treatment. The most notabl e exception was sexual function, which was the only score that was higher i n black patients at treatment. With time, health related quality of life im proved in both groups but black patients had slower rates of improvement fo r general health, bodily pain, physical function, role function, disease wo rry and bowel function. They continued to have higher sexual function. Conclusions: Significant differences exist in clinical presentation, sociod emographic characteristics, and health related quality of life between blac k and white men with prostate cancer. These health related quality of life differences remain after treatment. Physicians should not assume that outco mes in black men would be similar toy other patients.