Co-senior author of a new JAMA Oncology study, Daniel Spratt, MD, chair of genitourinary clinical research at the U-M Rogel Cancer Center, helped analyze more than 300,000 prostate cancer patients to find out why black men are more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 2.5 times more likely to die of the disease (compared to non-Hispanic white men).
“The data show that black men don’t appear to intrinsically and biologically harbor more aggressive disease,” Spratt says. “They generally get fewer PSA screenings, are more likely to be diagnosed with later stage cancer, are less likely to have health insurance, have less access to high-quality care and other issues that can be linked to a lower overall socioeconomic status.”
Spratt adds, “While our job is to treat cancer, we know that these other factors are in play, so as doctors we need to make sure we focus on the health of the entire patient and, as a society, on addressing disparities.”
Please contact Jordyn Imhoff at [email protected] to organize an interview with Dr. Spratt.
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