Racial Disparity in Veterans Receiving Prostate Cancer Treatment

Black veterans with prostate cancer were less likely to receive treatment than non-Black men despite having the same potential treatment benefit, according to research published in Cancer.

In a retrospective cohort study, researchers analyzed data from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Corporate Data Warehouse on 35,427 men diagnosed with low- or intermediate-risk prostate cancer between 2011 and 2017.

After controlling for covariates, the analysis indicated that Black men were 1.05 times more likely to receive treatment when compared with non-Black men (P<.001). Additionally, men who were identified as having high treatment benefit had 1.4 times the odds of receiving treatment compared to those identified with low treatment benefit (P<.001).

“The interaction of race and treatment benefit was significant,” researchers noted. In the high-treatment-benefit group, Black men were less likely to receive treatment than non-Black men (odds ratio, 0.89; P<.001).

“The influence of patient race at high treatment benefit levels invites further investigation into the driving forces behind this persistent disparity in this consequential group,” study authors concluded.

Reference:
Rude T, Walter D, Ciprut S, et al. Interaction between race and prostate cancer treatment benefit in the Veterans Health Administration [published online ahead of print June 29, 2021]. Cancer. 2021. doi:10.1002/cncr.33643