Demographic, Social Support, and Community Differences in Predictors of African-American and White Men Receiving Prostate Cancer Screening in the United States

Public Health Nurs. 2016 Nov;33(6):483-492. doi: 10.1111/phn.12245. Epub 2016 Jan 21.

Abstract

Objective: To examine demographic, social support, and community factors from a national dataset that influence African-American (AA) and White men to receive prostate cancer screening (PCS) via the Digital Rectal Exam (DRE) or Prostate Specific Antigen Test (PSA).

Design and sample: A cross-sectional secondary analysis from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) provided the sample of AA (N = 377) and White (N = 971) men over the age of 40 years. Regression analysis with confidence intervals was utilized to examine the factors associated with AA and White men receiving PCS. The Social Ecological Model provided the theoretical framework.

Measures: Questionnaires from the NHANES dataset provided data for this study.

Results: Age, education, and access to health care was associated with AA and White men receiving the DRE. Income and church attendance was only associated with White men receiving the DRE. Only White men had an association of income with receiving the PSA test and only AA men had an association of marital status with receiving the PSA test.

Conclusions: Cultural evaluations of PCS behaviors among AA men are necessary to decrease the health disparity of prostate cancer among the AA population.

Keywords: African-American men; cancer; community factors; prostate cancer; prostate cancer screening; social support.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Black or African American / statistics & numerical data*
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Digital Rectal Examination / statistics & numerical data
  • Early Detection of Cancer / methods
  • Early Detection of Cancer / statistics & numerical data*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Nutrition Surveys
  • Prostate-Specific Antigen / blood
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / ethnology*
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / prevention & control
  • Residence Characteristics / statistics & numerical data
  • Social Support
  • United States
  • White People / statistics & numerical data*

Substances

  • Prostate-Specific Antigen