prostate-report.org

Raised risk of prostate cancer in Black men

British researchers at Bristol University’s Department of Social Medicine have found that black men living in England are three times more likely to get prostate cancer than White men and tend to be diagnosed five years younger.

This is the first population-based study to compare rates of prostate cancer between Black men and White men living in the United Kingdom.

Studies in the US had already reported a higher rate of prostate cancer in Black men, but it was unclear if this reflected a higher rate of diagnosis, or a difference in disease biology.

In the UK study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, the difference between black men and white men exceeded that in the US, and could not be fully explained by differences in how long the men delayed before seeing their doctor, differences in access to diagnostic services, or by differences in the information black men or white men had about the condition. Indeed, a higher average level of prostate specific antigen in Black men at diagnosis suggested that the difference in rates may be underestimated.