Cultural and social factors influence prostate cancer treatment

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Non-medical factors such as marital status and ethnicity govern many men's decisions on prostate cancer treatment.
There are three approaches to treating prostate cancer - surgery, radiotherapy and 'watchful waiting' where the man's condition is monitored but no active treatment is given. Research has shown no obvious benefit to any of the approaches.

It has been widely assumed that men and their doctors make their treatment decisions on medical grounds. Researchers at the University of Colorado now reveal that this may not be so. They looked at data from nearly 28,000 Hispanic, non-Hispanic, black and white men with prostate cancer. The study reveals that Caucasian, black and Hispanic patients were equally likely to receive curative treatments or watchful waiting. However, Caucasian and Hispanic men were more likely to opt for surgery within the treatment options. Black men were more likely to receive radiation. Married men in all groups were more likely to have curative treatment than watchful waiting. They were also more likely to go for surgery than radiation. The reasons behind these choices are worthy of further investigation.

Source
Cancer online 28th March 2005 (print 1st May)

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