Racism Does Not Cause Prostate Cancer, It Causes Prostate Cancer Death

Aggressive Prostate Cancer Is Preventable and so Are Racial Disparities

“…As summarized by Vickers et al, 1 germline genetics are clearly a strong contributor to prostate cancer risk. 7 However, a strong genetic contribution does not preclude a potential for prevention.…”

“…Prostate cancer is the cancer with the highest racial disparity in mortality rates between Black and White men in the United States. Vickers et al 1 ask an important question, where in the cancer continuum to intervene to close this disparity (Fig 1A).…”

“…4,5 Some other contributors to racial disparities in prostate cancer burden may act as early as by influencing the timing of puberty. 6 As summarized by Vickers et al, 1 germline genetics are clearly a strong contributor to prostate cancer risk. 7 However, a strong genetic contribution does not preclude a potential for prevention.…”

Racism Might Cause Prostate Cancer and Definitely Causes Excess Unemployment, Lost Wages, and Excess Cancer Deaths

“…The incidence of prostate cancer is substantially higher in Black American men, but the primary causes have not been identified. Without providing compelling evidence, Vickers et al 1 simultaneously (1) attribute the incidence disparity to genetics and (2) reject racism as a possible cause. The first column of Table 1 summarizes some of their arguments as to why they believe that racial differences in the incidence of prostate cancer are largely due to genetic factors, rather than racism.…”

Reply to M. Roach et al and K.H. Stopsack et al

“…Roach et al 1 claim that our arguments 2 about the potential drivers of racial disparities in prostate cancer incidence and mortality are lacking in nuance and further speculate about the impact of our call to action to address cancer disparities. Our arguments were clear, supported by citations to empirical data, and nuanced in that we attribute excess mortality in prostate cancer disparities to racism, while incidence of disease appears to track with genetics, specifically West African ancestry.…”