There was only one significant lecture series on prostate cancer on Friday. This session dealt specifically with prostate cancer in the African-American community. The question posed was, “Prostate cancer in Black Americans: is it a different disease?”
Regrettably one of the key presenters was missing because of travel problems getting to Chicago, but the two presenters did an excellent job of reviewing the available data, and demonstrating a series of critical points:
- There is now good evidence to demonstrate that African Americans are getting screened for prostate cancer at the same (and perhaps slightly higher) rates as other ethnic groups, but at a slightly younger age.
- There is clearly a 5-10 year “shift” in risk of onset for prostate cancer in African Americans, justifying recommendations that regular screening in this community should start when men are in their 40s rather than their 50s, particularly if there is any family history of prostate cancer.
- There appear to be almost no differences whatsoever in responses to the most common forms of treatment (radical prostatectomy, radiotherapy, androgen deprivation) among African Americans compared to other ethnic groups.
- There does, however, seem to be a slightly higher rate of risk for metastatic disease among African Americans.
At this time, we still appear to have no good explanations for why African Americans (and therefore presumably other groups of similar ethnic descent) are at greater risk for early onset of prostate cancer. By contrast, it seems possible that the issue of greater risk of metsatatic disease may be associated with socioeconomic and other factors. Lee presented data to show that after initial treatment, African Americans were less likely to be rigorous about regular follow-up for PSA testing and monitoring, which may mean that a significant number of patients who have early progression post-treatment do not get appropriate second-line therapy early enough to prevent subsequent metastatic disease.
In his lecture, Klein noted in particular the considerable success that has been achieved in enrolling African Americans in major clinical trials in recent years, which has begun to allow a much greater degree of knowlededge about the incidence, prevalence, and progression of the disease in this population, and simultaneously helped to overcome some of the historic and understandable reluctance of the African American community to participate in clinical trials.
Filed under: Diagnosis, Management, Treatment
Actually, one of the reasons African-American people are at a higher risk for cancers is that they do not get enough natural vitamin D. There is scientific evidence that show the darker the skin, the longer the exposure to sunlight is needed. For those with ebony skill, it has been shown they require almost two hours of sunshine as their darker skin has more natural UVA/UVB sun blockers than lighter skinned people. Most people only require 10 minutes a day of natural sunshine on as much skin as possible.
Also, African-Americans who live in the northern portion of the US and in the states that get limited sunshine have higher instances of more aggressive cancers than lighter pigmented people.
Add to that the fact that the food we eat is nutritionally deficient, it’s no wonder we have the rampant diseases we do. The food we grow today does not have the mineral content that nature intended due to our strip-mining forms of mass food production. Natural sea mineral fertilizer is the answer and will become the way in which farmers and backyard gardeners will fertilize their crops.
Those are the two main reasons why African-Americans have the rates of cancer that they do, both of which are completely alterable once a person has been genuinely educated on the factors that lead to disease.
Thank you for your wonderful posts, I enjoy reading them very much .
As always, your til next time….
Karen
ProstatePrincess.com