Susan Halabi, PhD, professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics, School of Medicine, Duke Cancer Institute, discusses an analysis of overall survival (OS) between African-American and Caucasian men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

Historically, reports have suggested that African-American men experience a shorter OS compared with Caucasian men. Much of this information is limited due to sample size, which in part is due to the poor access that African-American men have to healthcare, says Halabi. An analysis presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting aimed to compare OS in African-American and Caucasian men through patient data from 9 phase III clinical trials of a docetaxel- or prednisone-containing regimen.

The analysis evaluated 8,871 patients. In this group of men with mCRPC, 7,528 (85%) patients were Caucasian, 500 (6%) patients were African-American. Findings showed a median OS of 21.0 (95% CI; 19.4-22.5) for African-American patients compared with 21.2 months (95% CI; 20.8-21.7) for Caucasian patients. The hazard ratio was 0.81 favoring African-American men, meaning that the risk of death was about 19% lower for these men, which is contrary to the initial hypothesis, Halabi says.

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Susan Halabi, PhD, professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics, School of Medicine, Duke Cancer Institute, discusses an analysis of overall survival (OS) between African-American and Caucasian men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.
 

Overall Survival Analysis Between African-American and Caucasian Men with mCRPC

Susan Halabi, PhD, professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics, School of Medicine, Duke Cancer Institute, discusses overall survival (OS) between African-American and Caucasian men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

Based on population-level data, researchers wanted to test a hypothesis on the OS outcomes in African-American and Caucasian men. The initial hypothesis was that African-American men would have worse OS outcomes than Caucasian men. In order to test the hypothesis, researchers pulled data from 9 randomized phase III trials, comprised of over 8000 men. Eighty-five percent were Caucasian, and only 6% were African-American, says Halabi.

In the initial analysis, there were no differences in OS between African-American and Caucasian men. The median OS was 21 months. An analysis adjusted for important prognostic factors like age, prostate-specific antigen level, and alkaline phosphatase showed a hazard ratio of 0.81, favoring African-American men. Therefore, the risk of death was about 19% lower for African-American men than Caucasian men, states Halabi.

Susan Halabi, PhD, professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics, School of Medicine, Duke Cancer Institute, discusses overall survival between African-American and Caucasian men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Susan Halabi, PhD

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Overall Survival Analysis Between African-American and Caucasian Men with mCRPC

Dr. Halabi Discusses Overall Survival Between African-American and Caucasian Men With mCRPC