Dr. Halabi Discusses Overall Survival 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.