(ThyBlackMan.com) The statistics are shocking: black men are twice as likely as their white peers to develop cancer of the prostate when they’re in their early 50s. Not only that, but they’re also twice as likely to die from prostate cancer and more likely to be in the late stages of the disease when they are given a diagnosis.
All this is despite the fact that cancer is becoming easier to identify and treat all the time thanks to advances in medical research, which you can see when you visit HBL. So what exactly is going on? Why are black guys being so let down by the medical system?
There are several things that may be playing a role in this:
Environment
Black men in Africa have a lower incidence of prostate cancer and related deaths than African-Americans which suggests that the
difference in eating habits, the chemicals we’re exposed to and even the places we live here in America could have a role to play.
Health Care
Black men in America are less likely to have health insurance than white men, due to a number of factors including higher levels of poverty in African-American communities, and a higher number of black men working in poorly-paid blue collar jobs. This means that they don’t have the same level of healthcare available to them, and this inequality could be costing black men their lives!
Lack of Information/Care
It’s awful, but black patients are not as likely to be given important information about cancer screening as white patients, nor as they as likely to get the cancer treatment they require. This is, at least in part due to the fact that hospitals in primarily black neighborhoods typically have fewer resources available to them than those who predominantly deal with white patients, which means they just do not offer the same high level of care to people in need.
Mistrust
African-American men tend to be a lot more suspicious of physicians and healthcare workers, according to numerous studies, which isn’t helped by the fact they are much less likely to see the same physician each time they visit the doctor, and this means they aren’t as likely to have a prostate exam.
Low Vitamin D Levels
The fact that African-American men do not produce high enough vitamin D levels, due to increased levels of melanin in the skin – something you can read more about at JNO – could also be a factor because vitamin D has been found to protect against prostate cancer. This is something that could easily be remedied by supplementing one’s diet, but so few black men know about this and have not been advised about it by anyone, that it remains a problem.
There are numerous reasons why black men are more likely to develop prostate cancer, and they need to be addressed immediately. Physicians need to start providing information to their patients, so they can start living healthier, disease free lives at the same rate as their white counterparts as far as possible.
Staff Writer; John Moore
