This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Racial disparity in use of minimally invasive radical prostatectomy decreased by half since 2001
Trinh Q. Cancer. 2011;doi:10.1002/cncr.26527.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
As the number of minimally invasive radical prostatectomies performed in the United States increases, black patients are becoming more likely to undergo the procedure, although utilization rates still lag behind those for white patients, according to analysis of patient discharge records collected in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample.
Researchers reviewed records of 3,581 patients who underwent minimally invasive radical prostatectomy from 2001 to 2007. Most patients in the study were white (78.8%), followed by blacks (11.4%) and other races (9.9%). Almost 80% of patients had a Charlson Comorbidity Index score of 0 and 64.1% of patients had private insurance.
From 2001 to 2007, utilization rates for minimally invasive radical prostatectomy increased 10.5-fold for black patients (0.3% to 9%) vs. an increase of 5.3-fold for white patients (0.9% to 11.6%). After adjusting for age, year of surgery (2001-2005 vs. 2006-2007) and other factors, black patients were still 14% less likely to undergo the procedure during the entire study period. The rate difference was 22% during 2001-2005 and 11% during 2006-2007.
Utilization rates for blacks steadily improved throughout the study period, although that is due in part to low rates early in the study period. Rates were 9% for blacks in 2006 compared with 9.3% for whites. However, the disparity increased slightly in 2007, 11.6% for whites vs. 8.4% for blacks.
After stratifying the cohort by minimally invasive radical prostatectomy vs. open radical prostatectomy, blacks were younger on average, less likely to have a comorbidity index score of 0, less likely to have private insurance and less likely to be in the fourth quartile for median ZIP code income.
 |
Follow HemOncToday.com on Twitter. |