Recruiting Diverse Prostate Cancer Survivors in Health Outcomes Research: Lessons Learned from Survey and Biospecimen...

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Genetics
• Public Health

Background:

• Addressing prostate cancer disparities necessitates inclusive research with diverse participants.
• This study focused on recruitment strategies for African American (AA), Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White (NHW) prostate cancer survivors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe recruitment procedures and participant characteristics in a biospecimen-based study.
• To assess the feasibility of recruiting diverse populations for prostate cancer survivorship research.

Main Methods:

• Recruitment involved mail, phone, and in-person approaches for eligible survivors.
• Participants completed patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in English or Spanish and provided saliva samples.
• Genetic ancestry was analyzed using admixture analysis based on the 1000 Genomes Project.

Main Results:

• Of 1,862 approached, 648 (35%) consented, with highest consent among AA (56%).
• The enrolled cohort (n=632) included AA (n=251), Hispanic (n=130), and NHW (n=251) participants.
• Genetic analysis confirmed distinct ancestry profiles: AA (82% African), NHW (95% European), and Hispanic (heterogeneous mix).

Conclusions:

• Inclusive recruitment strategies successfully generated a racially and genetically diverse cohort of prostate cancer survivors.
• Findings support the integration of self-reported and genomic data to advance research on cancer survivorship disparities.