The economic burden of prostate cancer: A comparison of African American and Caucasian men

A60

Background: Prostate Cancer is the foremost type of cancer diagnosed in men, and the second leading cause of death. In the United States, 218,890 new cases were estimated to occur in 2007 with approximately 27,050 deaths. The incidence rates have increased with the introduction of early detection screening, and morbidity rates are slowly declining. Even with this decrease, the disproportionate impact of cancer morbidity and mortality prevails in African American men at rates more than double those recorded for Caucasians. In Florida it is estimated that 15,710 males will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2007 and approximately 2,180 are expected to die. Purpose: Considering the high mortality and morbidity rates associated with prostate cancer, the economic burden of this disease to society is significant. Cost of illness for prostate cancer has been a minimal area of exploration. More importantly, there are few studies to ascertain the impact of prostate cancer in African-American men compared to Caucasian men. The goal of this study was to report the overall cost of treating men with a primary diagnosis of prostate cancer. The secondary objective was to analyze if the average cost of treating African American men with a primary diagnosis of prostate cancer was different from that of Caucasian men with the same diagnosis. Methods: A nonrandomized, retrospective, secondary data analysis was conducted to achieve study objectives. Data was obtained from Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center database, an equal access delivery system, which could identify members by race. A cost of illness analysis was conducted to determine the overall economic burden for men and to compare the costs between African American and Caucasian men. Analysis: SAS 9.00 for Windows XP was employed for the data analyses. Student t-test was used to compare the economic burden of prostate cancer for African American and Caucasian men. Results: Economic burden of prostate cancer for the Miami Veterans Affairs system for a one-year period was determined to be $1,788,862.94 for 1204 men. African American men tend to be younger than Caucasian men 69.9/72.7 (P=.01). The mean cost for treating outpatient African American men ($1,846) is significantly greater (P<.0001) than the cost of treating outpatient Caucasian men ($747). The mean cost of treating inpatient African American men, (n=18) $60,351 per patient was not significantly different (P=.2964) from the cost of treating inpatient Caucasian men (n=550) $18,819. The average cost of treating African American men was different from the cost of treating Caucasian men (P=.0474). Conclusions: This study provides important insight on the cost differences in the treatment of African American and Caucasian men using an equal access system.