Prostate Cancer Racial Disparities in PSA Screening and Referrals to Urologists


Dr. David Vasir, Senior Research Analyst at PHEN, discusses the prostate cancer racial disparity in cancer screenings and referrals to urologist and how important it is to increase the number of screenings.

Key Takeaways:

  • Atrium Health, a large integrated health system with 900 care locations located in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, conducted a patient study from 2014-2019.
  • Atrium Healthcare system demonstrated a decrease in PSA screening across all age and racial groups during the study period, which is consistent with previous reports of other groups.
  • Black men and White men had similar rates of undergoing PSA screening (28.8% vs. 27.7%). And Black men were referred to urology at twice the rate of White men.
  • Although Black men received PSA tests and urology referrals at a slightly higher rate than White men at Atrium, it was suggested that the increase was not at levels required to address the disparity in prostate cancer diagnosis, treatment and mortality.

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