Nearly two-thirds (62%) of black people in the UK believe racial discrimination has prevented them or a loved one from accessing a prostate cancer test, a survey has found, despite black men having twice the risk of developing the disease than the overall adult male population.
A PSA test measures the level of the protein prostate-specific antigen in the blood, and may be able to detect prostate cancer in its early stages.
But according to a survey conducted by Prostate Cancer Research of 2,000 black adults in the UK, 24% of those who said that either they or a male loved one requested a PSA test in the past year did not have one. Asked why they were not able to access the test, 32% said it was because their GP either refused or said it was not necessary.
Screening for prostate cancer is currently not recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice), which says routine PSA testing “would generate too many false positives and false negatives … resulting in potential unnecessary and invasive tests and/or unnecessary treatment”.
The survey – of 1,000 black women and 1,000 black men – found that just under half (47%) believe they will receive the same level of care from the NHS as a white person. Asked if they believed that racial discrimination had stopped them or a loved one from being routinely screened for prostate cancer, 62% of respondents said yes.
The report also found that 84% of black people believed there should be more medical research that included black people. A similar figure (83%) agreed that more black people should take part in medical research and 73% said things would only improve if that happened.
Black men in the UK are at a higher risk of developing prostate cancer than other men. One-quarter of black men will be diagnosed with the disease, compared with one-eighth of all men.
More than a million men worldwide are diagnosed with the disease each year. The chances of survival are relatively good – 78% of men survive 10 years or more after diagnosis, particularly if diagnosed early. Many can live for decades without symptoms or needing treatment.
