Impact of race in a predominantly African-American population of patients with low/intermediate risk prostate cancer undergoing radical prostatectomy within an equal access care institution

Purpose: To study the impact of race in an equal access care institution with a predominantly African-American (AA) population. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed data from 222 men with low risk (LR) or intermediate risk (IR) prostate cancer who underwent radical prostatectomy at the New York Harbor VA between 2003 and 2011. Biochemical relapse, distant control, and prostate cancer-specific survival were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression modeling was performed to determine the impact of covariates on biochemical outcome. Results: Most patients (65.3 %) were AA. The median follow-up was 58 months, and 89.6 % of patients were followed for a minimum of 2 years after their surgery. Analyzing the whole cohort, the biochemical control was improved in Caucasian patients compared with AA (90.2 vs. 75.4 %, p = 0.008). On subgroup analysis, for IR disease, this difference was no longer significant, 80.5 % for Caucasians versus 69.8 % for AA (p = 0.36). However, for LR disease, the 5-year biochemical control remained significantly improved for Caucasians compared with AA, with a 5-year biochemical control of 97.6 versus 81.7 %, p = 0.006. On multivariate analysis, AA race was a significant predictor for biochemical recurrence (HR 2.69, 95 % CI 1.27-5.65, p = 0.009). There were no differences between the two groups regarding distant control (p = 0.14) or prostate cancer-specific survival (p = 0.29). Conclusions: In this predominant AA population with equal access to medical care, AA race is an independent predictor of biochemical recurrence after prostatectomy in men with LR or IR prostate cancer.