98 Background: This study addresses whether the recent favorable survival trends observed among contemporary prostate cancer patients can be extended to African American men who have historically suffered excess prostate cancer mortality. Methods: The study cohort consisted of men over age 65, who resided in the SEER catchment area and were diagnosed with T1-T2 prostate cancer (ICD-O-3 code C61.9) during the period 1992-2005. In order to quantify race-specific prostate cancer mortality, separate competing risk models were fit separately for Whites and Blacks. Results: This study includes 35,509 white men and 5,256 black men who received conservative management for localized prostate cancer. The median age of the patients is 76 years at diagnosis and the median follow-up is 106 months. Overall, African Americans have slightly higher adjusted prostate cancer mortality than Whites (hazard ratio [HR] =1.16; 95% confidence interval [C.I.] 1.03 – 1.29). The racial difference was more pronounced in men with moderately differentiated cancer (HR=1.24, 95% CI 1.05 – 1.45), compared to poorly differentiated cancer (HR=1.00, 95% C.I. 0.85 – 1.18). Further analyses by comorbidity status and income level revealed that African Americans and Whites have similar excellent prostate cancer survival if they lived in areas with incomes above the median. Conclusions: African Americans diagnosed in the contemporary PSA era have similarly excellent survival outcomes as their white counterparts if they lived in areas with incomes above the median. Further studies should be conducted to confirm these findings and assess care and health habits that may improve cancer control and outcomes among African Americans.
Focal laser ablation versus radical prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer: Survival outcomes from a matched cohort