Beyond Oncology Treatment: Health Assessment of Younger Men with a Reported History of Prostate Cancer Using the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey (BRFSS)

Objective: Nearly 23% of male respondents reporting a history of prostate cancer are younger than 65, thereby not covered by Medicare. Given the potential for treatment-associated metabolic syndrome, we assessed related general health care needs of these younger men and potential barriers to receiving such care.

Methods: We compared BRFSS 2002, 2004 and 2006 male survey respondents reportedly aged 40-65 who answered “yes” to the question indicating history of prostate cancer (HXPC) to age-matched controls (within 5-year groups) who did not . We evaluated health-related indicators including: lack of medical care due to cost; self-reported general health; diabetes, asthma, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and body mass index >25. We used chi-square analysis of weighted data with statistical significance level of 0.05.

Results: Of 134 million younger men represented by the complex survey design, over 1% (2376 respondents representing 1.6 million men) reported HXPC. Compared to age-matched controls, lack of medical care due to cost*, poor general health*, history of cardiovascular disease*, high blood pressure* and cholesterol* were more prevalent among some of these men. Collectively, the HXPC group was also more likely to have been treated for asthma* and diabetes* and be overweight (* indicates p-value <0.05).

Conclusions: We report that younger men with prostate cancer history were more likely to report metabolic syndrome-related health conditions and lack of medical care due to cost than their age-matched counterparts. These findings suggest a need for diligent, low-cost follow-up care.