Divison of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, 1603 West Taylor Street, Room 981, Chicago, IL 60637.
Social determinants of prostate cancer survival and their relation to racial/ethnic disparities thereof are poorly understood. We analyzed whether census tract-level socioeconomic status (SES) at diagnosis is a prognostic factor in men with prostate cancer and helps explain racial/ethnic disparities in survival.
We used a retrospective cohort of 833 African-American and white, non-Hispanic men diagnosed with prostate cancer at four Chicago-area medical centers between 1986 and 1990. Tract-level concentrated disadvantage (CD), a multi-dimensional area-based measure of SES, was calculated for each case using 1990 U.S. census data. Its association with prostate cancer-specific survival was measured using Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for case and tumor characteristics, treatment, and healthcare system (private sector vs. Veterans Administration [VA]).
Tract-level CD associated with an increased risk of death from prostate cancer (highest vs. lowest quartile, hazard ratio [HR] = 2.37, p < .0001). However, the association was observed in the private sector and not in the VA (per 1 standard deviation [SD] increase, HR = 1.33, p < .0001 and HR = 0.93, p = .46, respectively). The multivariate HR for African Americans before and after accounting for tract-level CD was 1.30 (p = .0036) and 0.96 (p = .82), respectively.
Census tract-level SES is a social determinant of prostate-specific mortality and helps account for racial/ethnic disparities in survival. An equal-access healthcare system may moderate this association.Impact: This study identifies a potential pathway for minimizing disparities in prostate cancer control. The findings need confirmation in a population-based study.
Written by:
Freeman VL, Ricardo AC, Campbell RT, Barrett R, Warnecke R. Are you the author?
Reference: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2011 Jul 22. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-11-0344
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 21784953
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