Faculty, Staff and Student Publications
Language
English
Publication Date
8-1-2025
Journal
Ethnicity & Health
DOI
10.1080/13557858.2025.2525791
PMID
40598758
PMCID
PMC12233192
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
7-1-2026
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Author MSS
Abstract
Background: Racial disparities in treatment and mortality were widely studied among prostate cancer patients; however, few studies considered the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes and their treatment status.
Objectives: To determine whether there are racial discrepancies in the use of anti-cancer, antihypertensive, and antidiabetic drugs in a cohort of long-term survivors of prostate cancer diagnosed in 2007-2015; and to examine racial disparities in mortality after adjustments for their differences in those treatments.
Methods: We used the SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results)-Medicare linked database and included records for patients with prostate cancer at age 65 years or older diagnosed from 2007 to 2015 in 17 SEER areas (n = 244,468).
Results: Among non-Hispanic Blacks with prostate cancer, 86.2% were affected by hypertension, with 62.1% taking antihypertensive medications. Additionally, 45.3% of individuals in this group had diabetes, and 41.1% of them received antidiabetic drugs to manage their respective health conditions. Non-Hispanic Blacks were less likely to receive antihypertensive drugs (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 0.94, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.89-0.99) and antidiabetic drugs (aOR:0.86, 95% CI:0.80-0.92) compared with non-Hispanic Whites. Hispanic and non-Hispanic Asians were significantly less likely to receive chemotherapy and hormone therapy, compared with non-Hispanic Whites. After adjusting for all factors including treatments, the risk of all-cause and cancer-specific mortality was significantly higher for non-Hispanic Blacks (hazard ratio: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.24-1.51 and 1.22, 95% CI:1.17-1.27) than that of non-Hispanic Whites.
Conclusions: There were substantial racial disparities in the receipt of cancer treatments and antihypertension and antidiabetic drugs. Non-Hispanic Black patients with prostate cancer still had a considerably higher risk of all-cause and cancer-specific mortality than non-Hispanic Whites after accounting for demographic, therapy, and tumor factors.
Keywords
Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Humans, Male, Antihypertensive Agents, Antineoplastic Agents, Black or African American, Cohort Studies, Diabetes Mellitus, Healthcare Disparities, Hypertension, Hypoglycemic Agents, Prostatic Neoplasms, SEER Program, United States, White, Prostate cancer, Hypertension, Diabetes, Treatment, Racial Disparities
Published Open-Access
yes
Recommended Citation
Zhuoyun Li and Xianglin L Du, "Racial Disparities in the Receipt of Therapies for Cancer, Hypertension, and Diabetes, and in Mortality in a Large Population-Based Cohort of Older Men With Prostate Cancer" (2025). Faculty, Staff and Student Publications. 1409.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/uthsph_docs/1409