Discover the shocking findings from a new study that reveals the impact of location on prostate cancer risk for African American men.
Image by National Cancer Society
Originally published for WBALTV
African American men are more than one and a half times as likely to develop prostate cancer and more than two times as likely to die from it compared to white men.
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Virginia Commonwealth University wanted to know why and found it may be linked to where you live.
The racial disparity in prostate cancer is widely known.
“There could be a variety of factors why this could be the case, such as differences in access to care, differences in screening, but there’s also growing evidence that African-American men are more likely to develop aggressive forms of the disease and we’re not fully sure of the reasons why,” said Dr. Kathryn Hughes Barry, a cancer epidemiologist.
Barry said there is growing data that living in poverty is linked with an increased risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer.
“There may be a role of chronic stress and related biological effects such as increased inflammation that may be driving these associations which led us to our current study” Barry said.
The study found that neighborhood disadvantage was associated with significantly higher expression of stress-related genes, which can trigger cancer.
“If you’re a man over 50, there’s a one-in-eight chance you’ll get prostate cancer. If you’re a Black man over 50, there’s a one-in-five chance,” said Derrick Butts, a prostate cancer survivor.
Butts is an advocate for prostate health. His message to men, particularly African American men, is to get your prostate-specific antigen — your PSA level checked early.
“Most recommendations of doctors say age 50. However, we are recommending that African-American men start at age 40. If you have a family history, an aggressive family history, you may want to start a little earlier. At least age 40 will allow you to capture where you are and start that baseline to move forward,” Butts said.
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