Background Prostate cancer mortality rates for African-Americans are much higher than Caucasians and a similar trend is observed for prostate cancer survival. Data on recently immigrated African-descent men are lacking. Methods Using cancer registry data from Brooklyn, NY and two countries in the Caribbean (Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago), survival rates were estimated. We also examined whether Black race or Caribbean birth-place predict prostate cancer survival among males living in the United States (US). Results The Caribbean cases were diagnosed at a later age than those in the US (Guyana: 74.5yrs, Trinidad & Tobago: 72.4yrs, Brooklyn: 65.8yrs). Patients in the Caribbean had a worse 5-year survival rate compared to those in the US (41.6% vs. 84.4%) but for immigrant Caribbean-born males living in the US the five-year survival rate was not significantly different from African-Americans (78.1%, 95% CI: 70.9–83.7% vs. 81.4%, 95% CI: 69.5–89.1%, p = 0.792). The risk of death for Caribbean born was more than three times higher than US-born men (HR: 3.43, 95% CI: 2.17–5.44, adjusted for ethnicity, stage and mean age of diagnosis). A mean age of diagnosis greater than 65 years old and stage IV disease, but not ethnicity, were found to be independently associated with the risk of death. Conclusion The survival disadvantage for Caribbean born patients may be partly due to later diagnosis. Interventions focused on screening, education about the disease and early detection could potentially reduce cancer mortality in this population.

Prostate cancer disparities have been reported in men of African descent who show the highest incidence, mortality, compared with other ethnic groups. Few studies have explored the genetic and environmental factors for prostate cancer in men of African ancestry. The glutathione-S-transferases family conjugates carcinogens before their excretion and is expressed in prostate tissue. This study addressed the role of GSTM1 and GSTT1 deletions on prostate cancer risk in populations of African descent. This multi-institutional case-control study gathered data from the Genetic Susceptibility to Environmental Carcinogens (GSEC) database, the African-Caribbean Cancer Consortium (AC3) and Men of African Descent and Carcinoma of the Prostate Consortium (MADCaP). The analysis included 10 studies (1715 cases and 2363 controls), five in African-Americans, three in African-Caribbean and two in African men. Both the GSTM1 and the GSTT1 deletions showed significant inverse associations with prostate cancer [odds ratio (OR): 0.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.83-0.97 and OR 0.88, 95% CI: 0.82-0.96, respectively]. The association was restricted to Caribbean and African populations. A significant positive association was observed between GSTM1 deletion and prostate cancer in smokers in African-American studies (OR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.01-1.56), whereas a reduced risk was observed in never-smokers (OR: 0.66, 95% CI: 0.46-0.95). The risk of prostate cancer increased across quartiles of pack-years among subjects carrying the deletion of GSTM1 but not among subjects carrying a functional GSTM1. Gene-environment interaction between smoking and GSTM1 may be involved in the etiology of prostate cancer in populations of African descent.

BackgroundProstate cancer is the sixth leading cause of death from cancer among men worldwide. We have previously reported that prostate cancer survival rates for Caribbean-born males in the US was similar to survival rates of African-Americans and was higher than their counterparts diagnosed in the Caribbean. However, it is not clear whether differences in mortality could be attributed to differences in treatment.MethodsThis current analysis seeks to further explore reasons for the geographic variation of prostate cancer survival for Caribbean-born men. This analysis included 2,554 Black newly diagnosed prostate cancer cases (960 cases diagnosed in the US and 1,594 cases diagnosed in the Caribbean). Clinical data were extracted from the cancer registry and clinical charts.ResultsThere were noted differences in the pattern of treatment for each place of birth category when stratified according to disease stage at diagnosis. Among the patients diagnosed with early-intermediate disease (stage I-III) the majority of US-born Brooklyn men were treated with surgery only (31%) and a similar pattern was observed for Caribbean-born Brooklyn men (35%). In contrast, the majority of Caribbean-born Trinidad & Tobago men were treated with hormone therapy (31%).Caribbean-born men diagnosed in the Caribbean had a significantly higher risk of death from prostate cancer (Adjusted Hazard [AdjHR]: 3.7, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 2.8-5.0) when compared with the risk of death for Caribbean-born males diagnosed in the US. This observation was consistent for each treatment group with the exception of the cases treated with hormone therapy only. For these cases, there was no difference in the risk of death between Caribbean-born males diagnosed in the Caribbean (AdjHR: 1.4, 95% CI: 0.8-2.6) compared to Caribbean-born males diagnosed in the US.ConclusionsIn addition to difference in access and utilization of screening, differences in treatment strategy may also be a strong predictor of outcome for Caribbean-born males diagnosed with prostate cancer. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings. In addition, other environmental factors related to survival that was not considered in this analysis also need to be investigated.

The myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a collection of hematologic disorders that affect older adults, and whose baseline characteristics and risk factors for evolution to acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and death have not been completely defined. We analyzed a large unselected cohort of 214 patients with MDS from the University of Pittsburgh Network Cancer Registry in Western Pennsylvania. Patients' follow-up was 22 months, at the end of which 72.9% of patients were dead. Overall, the 36-month survival rate was 19.0% (95% CI: 14.0-24.5%); 22.4% (95% CI: 16.4-29.0%) for patients with lower-risk MDS; and 5.0% (95% CI: 0.1-14.8%) for patients with higher-risk MDS (p = 0.0007). During follow-up, 32.9% of the patients developed AML. Family history of cancer and having  ≥5% blasts at diagnosis were statistically significant predictors for progression to AML. A higher risk of death also was associated with age >70 years and previous diagnosis of another cancer. More than three cycles of chemotherapy sessions and a platelet count of ≥50 × 10(3)/mm(3) were inversely associated with death. This study suggests the need to incorporate laboratory results such as percentage blasts and platelet counts as well as epidemiologic data on family history of cancer in future outcome studies on MDS.