Health disparities in staging of SEER-medicare prostate cancer patients in the United States.
OBJECTIVE
To examine whether race or age disparities affected the odds of being staged among prostate cancer (PC) patients. Accurate staging is critical for determining treatment for PC.


METHODS
Multivariable logistic regression models examined race and age disparities with respect to the odds of being staged among PC patients using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare data. Similar analyses were performed to estimate the adjusted odds of being staged with distant metastatic vs in situ or local/regional disease.


RESULTS
The proportion of patients without staging ranged between 3% and 16% by age and between 6% and 8% by race. Adjusted results demonstrated statistically significant lower odds ratios (P <.05) for 70-74, 75-79, and 80+-year-olds of 0.76, 0.52, and 0.23, respectively, relative to PC patients aged 65-69. The odds of being staged for African Americans are 0.78 times that of non-Hispanic Whites (95% confidence interval = 0.72-0.86). The adjusted probability of distant metastatic disease at initial diagnosis is higher for African Americans (odds ratio = 1.61; 95% confidence interval = 1.47-1.76) and older men with odds ratios of 1.25, 1.85, and 4.33 for ages 70-74, 75-79, and 80+, respectively, compared with 65-69-year-olds (all P <.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Even though the overall odds of being staged increased over time, race and age disparities persisted. When staging did occur, the probability of distant metastatic disease was high for African Americans, and there were increasing odds of metastatic disease for all men with advanced age.
Mullins
C Daniel
CD
Pharmaceutical Health Services Research Department, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, USA. dmullins@rx.umaryland.edu
Onukwugha
Eberechukwu
E
Bikov
Kaloyan
K
Seal
Brian
B
Hussain
Arif
A
D001741:Black or African American; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D018426:SEER Program; D014481:United States; D044465:White People