Racial/ethnic disparities in the treatment of localized/regional prostate cancer.
OBJECTIVE
Racial/ethnic disparities in the utilization of definitive therapy for prostate cancer are well recognized in the United States. The effect of race on the use of contemporary definitive therapies, including brachytherapy, and the assessment of Hispanic men with regard to racial/ethnic disparity has not been fully characterized.


METHODS
We evaluated treatment patterns using Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results registry data on 142340 localized/regional stage cases between 1992 and 1999 in white, black and Hispanic American men. Definitive therapy was defined as radical prostatectomy, external beam radiation, brachytherapy or combinations thereof. Logistic regression models were constructed to determine the odds of receiving definitive treatment, adjusting for age, marital status, tumor grade, and Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results site.


RESULTS
Black and Hispanic men were less likely to receive definitive therapy than white men (p <0.001). Higher tumor grade was associated with decreasing odds of definitive therapy for black and Hispanic men (p <0.001) compared to white men. The racial/ethnic disparities in the use of definitive therapy decreased between 1992 and 1999 with the greatest decrease in Hispanic men.


CONCLUSIONS
Hispanic and black men were less likely than white men to receive definitive therapy. The disparity in the use of definitive therapy between 1992 and 1999 decreased significantly in Hispanic men, although a significant disparity in the use of definitive therapy persisted in black men. Our observation of an association between tumor grade and the racial/ethnic disparity in definitive therapy ties together relevant biological and social factors that may contribute to the observed racial/ethnic disparity in mortality.
Underwood
Willie
W
Department of Urology, University of Michigan, Veterans Affairs Center for Practice Management and Outcomes Research, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-0759, USA.
De Monner
Sonya
S
Ubel
Peter
P
Fagerlin
Angela
A
Sanda
Martin G
MG
Wei
John T
JT
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044383:Black People; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D018426:SEER Program; D044465:White People