It’s a medical mystery with fatal consequences: African-American men with prostate cancer are more likely to get and twice as likely to die from the disease than their white counterparts, and no one knows exactly why.
Uncovering reasons behind these stark health disparities is the goal of an ambitious $26.5 million study commencing this month and backed by the National Institutes of Health. With a target of recruiting 10,000 African-American men to participate, researchers will examine whether poverty, the lingering effects of segregation and the stress of day-to-day racism are to blame, as well as look for genetic markers of risk for the disease.
