Why are black men more likely to get prostate cancer?

r/

I was taking a testicular cancer awareness survey to find out if I could have possible signs of early symptoms or anything (I am black) and as the survey follows, there is a question asking me if I am of darker skin color or African descent because it would make me more likely to get it… But why? I have already researched it but have not gotten a straight up answer that could end the debate for me.

Comments

  1. SunflowerMoonwalk Avatar

    Different ethnic groups have different incidence rates for different medical conditions. There’s not really a “why”.

  2. arist0geiton Avatar

    This sub is for professors and usually we talk about our jobs. They can be in many disciplines, not just medicine or human biology. You might have more luck in a health care sub.

  3. oldsak2001 Avatar

    I’m a sociology grad student who studies population health. The social epidemiology answer (without knowing particular studies) would say that Black people are exposed to higher amounts of stress, worse social and environmental exposures, and have worse health care than White people. (There is also, for good reason, higher distrust of the healthcare system among Black people.) Thus, Black men may be at higher risk of developing prostate cancer. It might also be the case that the baseline risk is no different (“Black” and “White” are social categories that are derived from groupings of physical traits but are not inherently genetically predetermined), but White men have better healthcare to prevent prostate cancer, diagnose it sooner, and treat it more effectively than Black men.