- Prostate cancer mortality rates continue to be higher in Black men than white men, latest analysis reports.
- The disparity persists across all levels of deprivation, challenging beliefs that socioeconomic differences alone explain ethnic differences in outcomes. Even in the least deprived areas Black men die from prostate cancer at higher rates than white men in the most deprived areas.
- Prostate Cancer UK calls for targeted interventions and culturally competent care to address these inequalities.
Black men are at twice the risk of dying from prostate cancer compared to white men. New analysis from Prostate Cancer UK reveals that deprivation alone does not explain this disparity.
Prostate cancer age-standardised mortality rates were shown to be 28-73% higher in different sub-populations of Black men when compared to white men, drawing on post-pandemic population-level data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The difference in mortality rates persists across every deprivation level, challenging a prevailing assumption that deprivation can account for all ethnic differences in deaths.
Ethnic differences in age-standardised prostate cancer mortality rates.
The analysis identified clear differences in prostate cancer mortality between ethnic groups, and across deprivation quintiles. Mortality rates increased with worsening deprivation in every ethnic group.
Age-standardised mortality rates for prostate cancer by ethnic group and area-based deprivation.
These findings underscore the charity’s recommendations for targeted interventions, culturally competent care, and a deeper understanding of the factors contributing to inequalities in outcomes.
The interaction between ethnicity and deprivation needs to be further explored, and this requires complete and accurate ethnicity data. Prostate Cancer UK calls for improved data collection that captures the healthcare needs of more detailed ethnicity subgroups, which can experience markedly different risks and outcomes.
This analysis is an important first step towards better understanding how ethnicity and deprivation influence prostate cancer mortality. It was led by Joan Kolo, Prostate Cancer UK’s Health Data Research Intern. Prostate Cancer UK partners with Health Data Research UK’s (HDRUK) Black Internship Programme to tackle under-representation of Black people within the health data science sector. The charity plans to build on this research as part of its ongoing commitment to closing evidence gaps for prostate cancer in Black men.
Link to interactive report: https://prostatecanceruk.org/for-health-professionals/data-and-evidence/inequalities-in-prostate-cancer-mortality-in-england
