o r i g i n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n
Prostate Cancer Treatment Patterns Among
Racial/Ethnic Groups in Florida
Hong Xiao, PhD; Cynthia Warrick, PhD; Youjie Huang, MD, DrPh
of Health, Tallahassee, Florida (Dr Huang).
Funding/Support: The study was supported by a minigrant corresponding Author: Hong Xiao, PhD, 1520 Martin Luther King, Jr Blvd, 200
from Florida A&M University/Harvard School of Public Health Dyson Pharmacy Bldg, Tallahassee, FL 32312 (hong.xiao@famu.edu).
Project CHOICE (grant P20MD000501 from the National Cen-
ter on Minority Health and Health Disparities).
IntroductIon
P
Background: Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of rostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed
cancer death among men in the United States. Blacks have cancer among American men and is the second
the highest incidence and mortality rates. Treatment differ- leading cause of cancer-related death among
ences have been observed between black and white men. men residing in the United States.1 It is estimated that
Brachy monotherapy (BMT) has become popular for local- 186 320 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and
ized prostate cancer because of its convenience, being 28 660 will die from it in 2008.2 The State of Florida
the least invasive, and resulting in better quality of life during ranks second behind California for both estimated new
and after treatment. No studies have specifically examined cases (11 380) and estimated deaths (2520) from pros-
BMT in treating localized prostate cancer by race/ethnicity. tate cancer in 2008.1 With the subsequent wide use of
Objectives: We sought to (1) describe treatment patterns prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and digital rectal exam-
among men with localized prostate cancer, (2) identify fac- ination (DRE) for prostate cancer diagnosis, more and
tors affecting the use of BMT, and (3) examine if there was more cases are detected at early stages.3
any difference in BMT use by race and ethnicity. African American men have been disproportionately
affected by prostate cancer compared to other racial and
Methods: Florida cancer incidence data of 1994-2003 were ethnic groups. The number of new cases (incidence) is at
used to extract information on men diagnosed with localized least 50% higher and mortality more than 2 times greater
prostate cancer along with their demographics, primary pay- for African American men compared to any other racial-
er at diagnosis, tumor stage and treatments. Logistic regres- ethnic groups in the United States.2 In 2000-2003, the
sion was performed to assess the likelihood of receiving BMT. age-adjusted incidence rate of prostate cancer was 141.1
Results: The study found that surgery and radiation were per 100 000 for Caucasian men and 258.3 per 100,000
the 2 major single treatments for localized prostate cancer. for African American men.