Abstract A4: Race and poverty in late-stage prostate cancer at diagnosis: A multilevel analysis

Objectives: To assess the statistical relationship between stage at diagnosis of prostate cancer and racial category in four southeastern states.

Methods: Data from state cancer registries in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, and Maryland were analyzed using a hierarchical generalized linear model to adjust for both patient-level characteristics and area-based measures of socioeconomic status.

Results: African-American men had lower odds of being diagnosed with localized disease than white men in each of the four state populations, after adjusting for patient- and area-level characteristics. These odds were statistically significant for men living in Florida (OR = 0.84, 95% C.I. 0.73–0.85) but not in Georgia (OR = 0.84, 95% C.I. 0.70–1.01), Kentucky (OR = 1.02, 95% C.I. 0.82–1.27) or Maryland (OR = 0.91, 95% C.I. 0.74–1.12).

Discussion: African Americans are more likely to be diagnosed with later stage prostate cancer in each of these four states. Variation in the proportion of men diagnosed with localized disease across states may reflect differences in sample size or real differences between the populations of these states.