Quantifying the Cumulative Impact of Differences in Care on Prostate Cancer Outcomes
Abstract
The purpose of this award is to undertake research focused on evaluating whether racial differences in access to and intensity of medical care for prostate cancer are a fundamental cause of the disparity in prostate cancer outcomes. This work involves first examining how care patterns are correlated throughout all phases of cancer care within racial groups in order to gain a fuller understanding of how racial differences across the continuum of care contribute to disparity. The second layer of this proposal is the development of a computer model that integrates the complex patterns of care and differences by race identified in the first phase in order to quantify their potential impact on mortality. This work demonstrates that disparities in treatment do appear to partially contribute to differences in mortality outcomes. The increased use of curative therapy among blacks which lagged behind whites in the 1980s can account for 14% of the prostate cancer mortality reduction among blacks assuming efficacy estimates from the Scandinavian trial. However even when treatment rates among blacks and whites are equal prostate cancer mortality among blacks remains significantly higher compared to whites.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA487026
Entities
People
- Megan Fesinmeyer
Organizations
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center