Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #104959

Hong Xiao, PhD, Center for Minority Prostate Cancer Training and Research, Florida A&M University, 1520 S. Martin Luther King Blvd, 200 Dyson Building, Tallahassee, FL 32307, 850-599-3375, hong.xiao@famu.edu, Gebre-Egziabher Kiros, PhD, Institute of Public Health, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Florida A&M University, 209 D Science Research Center, Tallahassee, FL 32307, Katherine Milla, PhD, College of Engineering Sciences Technology and Agriculture, Florida A&M University, 216 Perry Paige Building, Tallahassee, FL 32307, and Clement K. Gwede, PhD, MPH, RN, Moffitt Cancer Center, University of South Florida, 12902 Magnolia Drive, MRC-CANCONT, Tampa, FL 33612.

Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in American men and the second leading cause of cancer death. Racial differences in prostate cancer are striking. This study investigated individual, community and environmental factors associated with prostate cancer incidence in the State of Florida. Prostate cancer incidence data for 1990-2001 were obtained from the Florida Department of Health. Census tract level characteristics for the State were extracted from Census 2000. County level environmental data including water quality, superfund and toxic release were collected from the Department of Environmental Protection. GIS was used to show racial disparities in prostate cancer. Multi-level modeling was applied to examine the relationship of prostate cancer stage and grade to factors at the aforementioned levels. The results indicated that at the individual patient level (N=167,435), advanced cancer stage was significantly associated with older age, being African American (OR: 1.391; 95% CL: 1.339-1.444), not being married, use of tobacco and being diagnosed in early years. At the census tract level, advanced cancer stage was related to low median income and low percentage of people with some college education. No association was found for environmental factors. Similar results were found for tumor grade. Our results are consistent with national data demonstrating striking racial-ethnic disparities, shift in stage and grade (improved) over time, and the importance of socioeconomic status. Our results also add local-community perspectives important for planning community education and outreach to reduce racial-ethnic disparities and improve early detection in lower income neighborhoods and lower literacy populations.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe racial-ethnic and geographic distribution of prostate cancer in the State of Florida;
• Identify risk and protective factors that are associated with prostate cancer incidence;
• Discuss prostate cancer disparities among racial-ethnic groups and recommend strategies to eliminate the gap.

Keywords: Cancer, African American

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation