Race independently predicts prostate specific antigen testing frequency following a prostate carcinoma diagnosis

The goals of the current study were to describe patterns of prostate specific antigen (PSA) surveillance for prostate carcinoma progression in a community-based cohort of patients and to identify independent clinical and sociodemographic factors that predict the frequency of surveillance.

Patients diagnosed with localized prostate carcinoma from October 1, 1991 to December 31, 1992 in New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, were identified. Data were collected through standardized outpatient medical record review. Multivariate statistical methods were used to determine the factors that independently predicted the frequency of surveillance.

Six hundred fifty-eight men with localized prostate carcinoma were included in the cohort. Forty-five percent of all patients were tested at least once annually, and 69% were tested at least once every 2 years. Multivariate models indicated that African American men were half as likely as Caucasian men to receive annual testing (odds ratio [OR], 0.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.24-0.97). Men diagnosed at age 70 years or older were 38% less likely to have annual testing than men diagnosed between the ages of 65 and 69 (OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.41-0.94). A higher Gleason score and PSA at presentation also were associated independently with higher rates of annual PSA surveillance.

Postdiagnosis PSA surveillance is common, although not universal. African American men were at significantly greater risk for receiving less frequent testing compared with Caucasian men. This disparity in access to care may explain, in part, previously observed racial differences in survival in prostate carcinoma. Further research is needed to identify the reasons for the racial disparity in PSA surveillance and to design interventions to lessen these differences.