Dr. Banerjee

Although there appears to be a biological difference in prostate cancer among African-American and white men, race doesn’t seem to affect the rate of progression in men who experience recurrence, according to a study conducted by Mousumi Banerjee, PhD, assistant professor of biostatistics in the Center for Healthcare Effectiveness Research.

Mortality from prostate cancer is two to three times greater among African-American men between the ages of 40 and 70 than their white counterparts.

Dr. Banerjee was awarded a $49,149 grant by the U.S. Department of Defense to study the differences in prostate cancer progression among African-American men and white men. Her study involved examining how quickly the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) rates increased in men whose cancer reccurred after being treated with radical prostatectomy.

"Traditionally, people have been looking at the time to recurrence, but they were ignoring the pattern of PSA rise in bnetween the time of surgery and time of recurrence," Dr. Banerjee said.

After mapping the rates at which PSA levels climbed, she then compared the rates in African-American men and white men, with the hypothesis that if PSA levels rose faster in African-American men, they could benefit more from earlier therapeutic intervention.

However, early examination of her study seems to show that there is no significant disparity in the rate at which the two racial groups’ PSA levels climbed.