Prostate Cancer Screening Among African Immigrant Populations: Rates and Influencing Factors

Abstract

Background: One in seven men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime. In 2015, there were 220,800 new cases of prostate cancer and 27,540 deaths in the US. Black men are 1.6 times more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than Caucasian men and 2.4 times more likely to die of prostate cancer than any other group. Cancer disparities are well documented between African Americans and Caucasians, but there is little known regarding African immigrant subpopulations and Caribbean migrants. Studies have shown that African immigrant population’s screen at very low frequencies, less than recommended. The objective of this study was to determine the rates of prostate screening amongst the African immigrant population and to determine the factors that affect screening uptake. Methods: Cross-sectional data from African Immigrant women who reside in Georgia were collected using a brief survey. Frequencies and descriptive statistics were conducted to characterize the sample in general and by prostate cancer screening. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were performed to estimate unadjusted odds ratios and adjusted odds ratio respectively and the 95% confidence intervals. Analyses were conducted using SPSS. Results: Results from this study showed that 75% of participants completed college, 92% were employed full-time, 46% had a household income greater than 50,000/year. Yet, only 24% of the participants had ever screened for prostate cancer. Neither educational level, family history of prostate cancer, availability of health insurance nor availability of health information were significantly associated with an increased likelihood of prostate cancer screening. Conclusion: Our results suggest that more research is needed for this growing population about cancer screening behaviors in order to improve cancer outcomes. The research should include a larger sample with diverse African subgroups to inform future directions.