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Evaluation of the contribution of demographics, access to health care, treatment, and tumor characteristics to racial differences in survival of advanced prostate cancer

Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases volume 22, pages 125–136 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Background

Racial differences in prostate cancer (PCa) outcomes in the United States may be due to differences in tumor biology and race-based differences in access and treatment. We designed a study to estimate the relative contribution of these factors on Black/White disparities in overall survival (OS) in advanced PCa.

Methods

We identified Black and White men aged ≥ 40 years with metastatic or locally advanced PCa (cN+ cM+ and/or T3/4) between 2004 and 2010 using the National Cancer Database. We employed sequential propensity score weighting procedures to generate simulated cohorts of Black and White patients with equal demographics, access to care, treatment, and tumor characteristics. Adjusted survival analyses were used to compare survival in these simulated cohorts. The changes in relative survival after each weighting procedure were used to infer the contribution of each set of variables on the excess risk of mortality in Blacks.

Results

In total, 35,611 men met inclusion criteria, 5927 (16.77%) of whom were Black. Survival was significantly worse for Black men after adjusting for demographics and comorbidities (hazard ratio (HR) 1.27, 95%-confidence interval (95%-CI) 1.2–1.34, p < 0.001). After simulating equal access to care, there was no significant difference in survival between races (HR 1.04, 95%-CI 0.97–1.12, p = 0.276), despite worse tumor characteristics in Blacks. After simulating equal treatment and equivalent tumor characteristics, Black men had a better survival than Whites (HR 0.93, 95%-CI 0.86–1.01, p = 0.071 and HR 0.92, 95%-CI 0.84–1.00, p = 0.043, respectively). Overall, access-related variables explained 84.7% of the excess risk of death in Black men.

Conclusion

Our analysis of men with advanced PCa revealed worse OS among Blacks. However, when access to care, treatment, and cancer characteristics are accounted for, Black race was associated with better OS. These findings suggest that initiatives to improve access to care may represent an effective tool to reduce disparities in PCa outcomes.

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Acknowledgements

Q-DT is supported by the Brigham Research Institute Fund to Sustain Research Excellence, the Bruce A. Beal and Robert L. Beal Surgical Fellowship, the Genentech Bio-Oncology Career Development Award from the Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, a Health Services Research pilot test grant from the Defense Health Agency, the Clay Hamlin Young Investigator Award from the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and an unrestricted educational grant from the Vattikuti Urology Institute. The National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) is a joint project of the Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons and the American Cancer Society. The CoC’s NCDB and the hospitals participating in the CoC NCDB are the source of de-identified data used herein; they have not verified and are not responsible for the statistical validity of the data analysis or the conclusions derived by the authors. Quoc-Dien Trinh and Marieke J. Krimphove had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Urological Surgery and Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Marieke J. Krimphove, Alexander P. Cole, Sean A. Fletcher, Sabrina S. Harmouch, Sebastian Berg, Maxine Sun, Junaid Nabi, Adam S. Kibel & Quoc-Dien Trinh

  2. Department of Urology, University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Marieke J. Krimphove & Luis A. Kluth

  3. Department of Urology, Marien Hospital Herne, Ruhr-University Bochum, Herne, Germany

    Sebastian Berg

  4. Division of General Internal Medicine and Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Stuart R. Lipsitz

  5. Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Maxine Sun & Toni K. Choueiri

  6. Department of Radiation Oncology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Paul L. Nguyen

  7. Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medicine–New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA

    Jim C. Hu

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Correspondence to Quoc-Dien Trinh.

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Conflict of interest

Q-DT reports honoraria from Bayer and Astellas. ASK reports consulting fees from Sanofi, Dendreon, Tokai, and Profound. PLN consulted for Ferring, Bayer, Astellas, Janssen, Blue Earth, Dendreon and received research funding from Janssen and Astellas. JCH is on the speakers’ bureau for Genomic Health. These financial relationships are outside this submitted work.

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Krimphove, M.J., Cole, A.P., Fletcher, S.A. et al. Evaluation of the contribution of demographics, access to health care, treatment, and tumor characteristics to racial differences in survival of advanced prostate cancer. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis 22, 125–136 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41391-018-0083-4

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