Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Jan;21(1):31-40.
doi: 10.1007/s10552-009-9431-y. Epub 2009 Sep 24.

Race, healthcare access and physician trust among prostate cancer patients

Young Kyung Do  1 , William R Carpenter, Pamela Spain, Jack A Clark, Robert J Hamilton, Joseph A Galanko, Anne Jackman, James A Talcott, Paul A Godley
Affiliations

Race, healthcare access and physician trust among prostate cancer patients

Young Kyung Do et al. Cancer Causes Control. 2010 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: To study the effect of healthcare access and other characteristics on physician trust among black and white prostate cancer patients.

Methods: A three-timepoint follow-up telephone survey after cancer diagnosis was conducted. This study analyzed data on 474 patients and their 1,320 interviews over three time periods.

Results: Among other subpopulations, black patients who delayed seeking care had physician trust levels that were far lower than that of both Caucasians as well as that of the black patients overall. Black patients had greater variability in their levels of physician trust compared to their white counterparts.

Conclusions: Both race and access are important in explaining overall lower levels and greater variability in physician trust among black prostate cancer patients. Access barriers among black patients may spill over to the clinical encounter in the form of less physician trust, potentially contributing to racial disparities in treatment received and subsequent outcomes. Policy efforts to address the racial disparities in prostate cancer should prioritize improving healthcare access among minority groups.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

    1. American Cancer Society. Cancer facts & figures 2007. American Cancer Society; Atlanta, GA: 2007.
    1. Gilligan T. Social disparities and prostate cancer: mapping the gaps in our knowledge. Cancer Causes Control. 2005;16:45–53. - PubMed
    1. Gilligan T, Wang PS, Levin R, Kantoff PW, Avorn J. Racial differences in screening for prostate cancer in the elderly. Arch Intern Med. 2004;164:1858–1864. - PubMed
    1. Etzioni R, Berry KM, Legler JM, Shaw P. Prostate-specific antigen testing in black and white men: an analysis of Medicare claims from 1991–1998. Urology. 2002;59:251–255. - PubMed
    1. Hoffman RM, Gilliland FD, Eley JW, et al. Racial and ethnic differences in advanced-stage prostate cancer: the Prostate Cancer Outcomes Study. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2001;93:388–395. - PubMed

Publication types