To answer the research question inquiring which determinants lead to health disparities among African American Men with Prostate Cancer and what factors influence clinical decision making by oncologists when delivering prostate cancer interventions in order to improve morbidity and mortality.
Primary and secondary sources were extracted from articles located using Google Scholar and PubMed databases. Terms included in the literature search were "African American men," "prostate cancer," "determinants," "disparities," and "interventions." Focusing on these specific terms helped narrow the scope of this systematic review by indicating which studies met the inclusion criteria. Only 20 articles were included in this systematic review. Specific inclusion criteria for this review were: 1) a publication date between 2013 and the current year; 2) a focus on African American men diagnosed with prostate cancer; 3), randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and; 4) evidence-based interventions used by oncologists.
The articles included when this systematic review provide evidence that oncologists will need to play more central roles in preventing premature death when African American men who present a higher risk of prostate cancer compared to their White and Hispanic/Latino counterparts. Shared decision-making in screening and diagnosis is also essential to close health disparities as well as improve population-level health outcomes.
The systematic review argues that oncologists will need to integrate population-based interventions capable of presenting strong empirical evidence about which determinants contribute to health disparities among African American men diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities. 2021 Jan 20 [Epub ahead of print]
Emily Quach
Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, USA. .