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
Review
. 2016 May 10;16(1):19.
doi: 10.1186/s12894-016-0137-7.

Do African-American men need separate prostate cancer screening guidelines?

Divya Shenoy  1 , Satyaseelan Packianathan  2 , Allen M Chen  3 , Srinivasan Vijayakumar  4   5
Affiliations
Review

Do African-American men need separate prostate cancer screening guidelines?

Divya Shenoy et al. BMC Urol. .

Abstract

Background: In 2012, the United States Preventative Services Task Force issued new guidelines recommending that male U.S. residents, irrespective of race, no longer be screened for prostate cancer. In African American men, the incidence of prostate cancer is almost 60 % higher and the mortality rate is two to three times greater than in Caucasians. The purpose of this study is to reduce African American men's prostate cancer burden by demonstrating they need separate screening guidelines.

Methods: We performed a PubMed search using the keywords: African American, Prostate cancer, Outcomes, Molecular markers, Prostate-specific Antigen velocity, PSA density, and to derive data relevant to our hypothesis.

Results: In our literature review, we identified several aspects of prostate cancer that are different in Caucasian and African American men. These included prostate cancer incidence and outcome, the clinical course of the disease, serum PSA levels, genetic differences, and social barriers. It's also important to note that the USPSTF guidelines were based on two studies, one of which reported that only 4 % of its participants were African American. The other did not report demographic information, but used participants from seven European countries with small African American populations.

Conclusion: Given the above, we conclude that separate prostate cancer screening guidelines are greatly necessary to help save the lives of African Americans.

Keywords: African Americans; Prostate cancer; Screening guidelines.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Siegel RL, Miller KD, Jemal A. Cancer Statistics 2015. CA Cancer J Clin. 2015;65(1):5–29. doi: 10.3322/caac.21254. - DOI - PubMed
    1. SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975–2006. National Cancer Institute Web site. http://seer.cancer.gov/archive/csr/1975_2006/ Published 2009. Accessed 01 June 2015.
    1. Odedina FT, Akinremi TO, Chinewundoh F, Roberts R, Yu D, Reams RR, et al. Prostate cancer disparities in Black men of African descent: a comparative literature review of prostate cancer burden among Black men in the United States, Caribbean, United Kingdom, and West Africa. Infect Cancer Agent. 2009;4(1):S2. doi: 10.1186/1750-9378-4-S1-S2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/ Published 2009. Accessed 03 June 2015.
    1. Powell IJ, Heilbrun L, Littrup PL, Franklin A, Parzuchowski J, Gelfand D, et al. Outcome of African American men screened for prostate cancer: the Detroit Education and Early Detection Study. J Urol. 1997;158(1):146–9. doi: 10.1097/00005392-199707000-00045. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms

Substances