Introduction: Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in USA.
The surgical outcomes of prostate cancer remain inconsistent. Barriers such as socioeconomic factors may play a role in patients' decision of refusing recommended cancer-directed surgery.
Methods: The Nebraska Cancer Registry data was used to calculate the proportion of prostate cancer patients recommended the cancer-directed surgery and the surgery refusal rate. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to analyze the socioeconomic indicators that were related to the refusal of surgery.
Results: From 1995 to 2012, 14,876 prostate cancer patients were recommended to undergo the cancer-directed surgery in Nebraska, and 576 of them refused the surgery. The overall refusal rate of surgery was 3.9% over the 18 years. Patients with early-stage prostate cancer were more likely to refuse the surgery. Patients who were Black, single, or covered by Medicaid/Medicare had increased odds of refusing the surgery.
Conclusion: Socioeconomic factors were related to the refusal of recommended surgical treatment for prostate cancer. Such barriers should be addressed to improve the utilization of surgical treatment and patients' well-being.
Written by:
Islam KM, Wen J. Are you the author?
Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198, USA.
Reference: Prostate Cancer. 2015;2015:829439.
doi: 10.1155/2015/829439
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 25973276