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Male doctor consulting patient in hospital room.
A “dangerously biased” combination of social factors and inadequate research is increasing black men’s already elevated risk of developing prostate cancer, a British charity has said.
Black men in Britain have 2.5 times the risk of dying from prostate cancer than the country’s white men, and twice the risk of developing the disease. Prostate Cancer UK declared.
Prostate Cancer UK surveyed 2,000 black people to better understand the reasons for these statistics.
Racial discrimination
Sixty-two percent of respondents believed that racial discrimination had prevented them or a loved one from receiving routine prostate cancer screenings.
Prostate cancer is often diagnosed after a blood test that measures the levels of something called ‘prostate-specific antigen’ or PSA.
More than half of respondents believe discrimination affects Black people’s access to health care more widely.
Nearly 60% of respondents believed this would prevent them or a loved one from receiving medical tests or treatments. And 27% expected to receive worse care from the country’s public health care system than a white person would receive.
A lack of representation in the survey was a major concern for many respondents. Nearly 60% strongly agreed that more research should include Black people, while the same percentage said more Black people should participate in studies.
Most people believe that things will “only get better” if more black people were involved in investigations.
Disproportionate burden of disease
Prostate is the most common form of cancer in British men. More than 55,000 are diagnosed annually. Cancer Research UK It is also the second deadliest form of cancer for men, with 12,000 deaths per year.
As the country’s population ages, the number of prostate cancer cases will increase significantly. Prostate Cancer UK expects that 82,500 men will be diagnosed annually between 2038 and 2040. About 17,500 of these men are expected to die annually.
If black people face the same barriers to care and research, they will continue to bear a disproportionate share of this burden, the charity warned.
Targeted screening
Men are not screened in Britain as part of a national program due to concerns about the accuracy of the tests.
But Prostate Cancer Research UK called on the government to introduce screening ‘as a minimum’ for high-risk groups such as black men.
The charity also has a “info pool” to provide information about prostate cancer, as well as a clinical trial finder to help as many people as possible enroll in research.
But it says more doctors and leaders need to learn about the risks black men face to address unequal outcomes.
“It is vital that we raise awareness not only among the community, but also among healthcare professionals and policy makers,” Oliver Kemp, CEO of Prostate Cancer Research UK, said in a statement. “We are calling on GPs to take into account the greater risk of black men when considering PSA testing, and calling on the government to introduce screening for men in high-risk groups.
“Our data shows that 82% of black men would be willing to participate in such a program if it were rolled out,” he added. “It is staggering to think how many lives could be saved.”