The Majority Of Asian Men Demonstrate A Greater Ability To Survive Prostate Cancer Than White Men
Next to skin cancer, prostate cancer is now the most often seen form of cancer in American men and it is predicted that just about 219,000 men in the United States will be diagnosed as having prostate cancer in 2007 and that approximately 27,000 men will die from the disease.
But, as with many diseases, survival rates from prostate cancer are not the same everywhere and this should provide us with data that will permit us to improve our treatment methods.
A recent study examined data on almost 117,000 men suffering from prostate cancer (including some 108,000 white men and nearly 9,000 Asians drawn from the six largest Asian ethnic groups - Korean, Filipino, Chinese, South Asian, Japanese and Vietnamese). The study examined both prognostic factors and survival rates amongst these men.
Amongst the various findings from the study it was discovered that the risk profile for Asians was worse than that for white men, with Asian men being more likely to suffer from advanced cases of the disease at the time of diagnosis and of receiving treatment with a variety of non-curative therapies. But, the study also found that the survival rates amongst Asian men were either equal to or better than those seen in white men.
These results were somewhat surprising when we note that the average age at which Asian men are diagnosed as having prostate cancer is far higher than that for white men and that their cancers are generally further advanced, which ought to suggest a reduced survival rate.
When the figures were studied in more detail however it was discovered that there was a marked variation between different Asian groups. As an example, Japanese-American men were thirty-four percent less likely to die as a result of prostate cancer, while men from South Asia (including Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Bhutan) were forty percent more likely to die from the condition.
So what does this mean? Unfortunately the answer would seem to be not a great deal. These variations are certainly big enough to be significant, but the wide variation between several largely similar groups means that it is virtually impossible to draw any concrete conclusions. Certainly there are several things, such as diet, exercise and genetics, that are a factor but several of the findings seem to be almost contradictory.
As a result, a study that it was believed would identify differences across ethic groups which would permit us to improve prostate cancer treatment has actually raised more questions that it has answered. As a matter of fact, other than exentuating the dangers of reaching conclusions based upon too broad a group, as witnessed in the difference between the figures for Asian men as a whole and South Asian men, the study has revealed that the differences were greater than most people had thought and thus suggest that the variations might indeed be more significant than previously thought.
As things stand, this study has not taken us any further forward but it has at least highlighted the need for more investigation that will hopefully produce better data and allow us to exploit the better survival rates amongst many Asian groups in drawing up treatment plans for prostate cancer.
