EDMONTON — Indigenous men in Alberta get fewer prostate cancer tests, have more aggressive disease at diagnosis, and are more likely to have their cancer spread than non-Indigenous men, according to a new study by a University of Alberta research team, published today in Cancer.
“I wasn’t surprised by the results, because they reflect what we know anecdotally about the experience of Indigenous people within the health-care system,” says study co-author Wayne Clark, executive director of the U of A’s Wâpanachakos Indigenous Health Program, who is Inuk registered under the Nunavut Agreement. “We need to consider traditional practices, focus on resiliency and shift away from deficit models when we’re looking for solutions.”
The study was inspired by extensive research on disparities Black men experience in the United States, where the disparities in screening and outcomes are attributed to lower socioeconomic status and less access to health-care resources.
Study co-author Adam Kinnaird, assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, said studies that look at Black Canadians or Black British men with access to universal health care, show prostate cancer outcomes are significantly lessened or completely eliminated.
“What’s interesting is despite there being a universal health-care system here, we are seeing marked discrepancies in prostate cancer diagnoses and outcomes for Indigenous men,” says Kinnaird. “It raises the question as to whether our public health-care system is adequately serving Indigenous Albertans, or whether there is another explanation that we haven’t explored.”
The prostate is a small gland that produces seminal fluid. Prostate cancer is the third most common cause of death in Canadian men. One in eight men in Canada will develop prostate cancer and one in 29 will die from it, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.
For the study, researchers examined Alberta health records for more than 1.4 million men. They found that 32 out of 100 men in Indigenous communities received the screening test within a one-year time period, compared with 46 out of 100 men in non-Indigenous communities.
Among the more than 6,000 men who were diagnosed with prostate cancer, the researchers found that Indigenous men had higher screening test levels and more advanced disease. They were also at higher risk of developing metastatic cancer than the non-Indigenous men. There was no difference in mortality, likely because the followup period was only 40 months.
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To speak with Dr. Kinnaird or Dr. Clark about their research, please contact:
Debra Clark
U of A communications associate
debra.clark@ualberta.ca