Racial Disparities in Survival After Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer in Kentucky, 2001-2010

Whether the African American race remains a significant predictor of poorer prostate cancer survival after adjusting for other sociodemographic and treatment-related factors remains unclear. We examined whether disparities in survival among 18,900 African American and Caucasian men diagnosed with prostate cancer in Kentucky remained after adjusting for health insurance (payor source), cancer treatment, cancer stage at diagnosis, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, smoking status, and Appalachian region. After adjusting for these predictors, African American men living in Kentucky had poorer prostate cancer survival after 5 years (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.33; 95% confidence interval = 1.11, 1.59) and 10 years (HR = 1.39; 95% CI = 1.18, 1.28) of follow-up, and for the entire follow-up period (HR = 1.41; 95% CI = 1.26, 1.65) compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Thus, health insurance status, cancer treatment, cancer stage at diagnosis, PSA level at diagnosis, smoking status, and geographic location did not explain the racial gap in survival in Kentucky.