Background: This study was conducted to investigate the role of family history of prostate cancer and ethnic variation on age at diagnosis and the mode of prostate cancer presentation among a multiracial cohort of men in the Bronx and on Long Island.
Methods: A retrospective hospital-based study of 953 men (62% white, 24% African-American, 9% Hispanic, and 5% other ethnicities) with biopsy-confirmed prostate cancer diagnosed between 1991 and 1996. Data were collected between 1996 and 1998 using self-administered questionnaires that assessed age at diagnosis, ethnicity, family history of prostate cancer, and first indication of potential prostate cancer.
Results: Men with a family history of prostate cancer were diagnosed at an earlier mean age than those who lacked a family history (P<0.001). Prostate cancer patients with an affected father had a significantly lower mean age at diagnosis than those patients who indicated that at least one brother (but not their father) was affected (P<0.001). African-Americans reported a family history of prostate cancer more often than whites (P<0.01) and were younger at diagnosis (P<0.0001). Hispanic patients were less likely to be identified by screening and more likely to present with symptoms compared with whites (P<0.0001) and African-Americans (P<0.001).
Conclusions: Men with an affected father were more likely to have disease diagnosed at an early age. The lower rates of presentation by prostate cancer screening of Hispanic men with prostate cancer suggests that increased surveillance may be warranted in this population.
Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.