Racial differences in financial impact of prostate cancer treatment and outcome
Racial differences in financial impact of prostate cancer treatment and outcome The Department of Defense (DoD) sought to address prostate cancer (CaP) racial disparity by funding PCaP. PCaP presents a unique opportunity to examine 10 years later disease status, treatments received, financial burden and stress and quality of life (QoL) of the research subject whether alive or deceased, his spouse/significant other/child(ren) (caregiver) and the family unit. The relationships among CaP diagnosis, treatment type, financial distress and QoL on survival may be influenced by race and several disease-related characteristics. Research subjects will include those who are cured of CaP (on active surveillance without progression or completed treatment without recurrence), progressed after radical prostatectomy by PSA only or to metastases to require adjuvant or salvage radiation treatment or ADT, respectively, or progressed after radiation by PSA only or to metastasis to require treatment, most commonly ADT. The family units may have suffered from death of the research subject, who could have been died of CaP, or died of other causes. The financial and QoL costs associated with management of side effects and treatments for CaP may affect families differently based on their socioeconomic status and adaptability to caregiving. The central hypothesis of the proposed research is that the financial impact of CaP treatment and oncologic outcome differs between AA and CA diagnosed with and treated for CaP.