Is Hispanic race an independent risk factor for pathological stage in patients undergoing radical prostatectomy?

Hispanic-Americans are the most rapidly growing population in the United States. Although many studies have assessed differences in pathological stage at radical prostatectomy between white and black American men, to our knowledge none has assessed it in Hispanic men. We compared pathological stage at radical prostatectomy in contemporaneous groups of Hispanic and white American men.

A total of 141 consecutive Hispanic and 314 consecutive white American men underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer from 1995 to 2002 at a single institution, as performed by one of us (ETG or MCB). Preoperative prostate specific antigen (PSA), age at diagnosis, race, clinical stage, biopsy and specimen Gleason score, pathological stage, specimen volume and calculated specimen PSA density were collected for each patient. Data were compared using standard statistical methods.

Biopsy Gleason score, biopsy Gleason score distribution, specimen Gleason score, specimen Gleason distribution, pathological stage, calculated specimen PSA density, Gleason score change from biopsy to specimen and specimen prostate volume did not differ statistically between Hispanic and white men. Mean age and median preoperative PSA were statistically significantly higher in Hispanic vs white men (62.1 vs 59.5 years and 6.6 vs 5.4 ng/ml, respectively). In addition, no differences in the incidence of positive surgical margins, nonorgan confined disease, seminal vesicle invasion or positive lymph nodes were found between Hispanic and white men undergoing radical prostatectomy.

This study shows that in contemporaneously treated groups of Hispanic and white men at the same institution pathological stage was similar between the groups. To our knowledge this is the largest comparison of surgically treated prostate cancer between these 2 groups. Further followup in terms of PSA outcome in these groups is planned.