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Health risk behaviors associated with lower prostate specific antigen awareness
August 28, 2008Findings also suggest less prostate screening likely
According to a study conducted at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, health risk behaviors such as smoking and obesity are associated with lower awareness of the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA), which could lead to a lower likelihood of undergoing actual prostate cancer screening. Although previous studies have explored predictors of PSA test awareness, this is the first research to focus on health risk behaviors, such as smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, and excessive alcohol consumption. The study findings were reported in the August issue of The Journal of Urology.
Awareness of PSA testing is considered an important cognitive precursor of prostate cancer screening and it was found to contribute to differences in prostate cancer screening rates. Earlier studies have suggested that persons who seek out cancer information are more likely to acquire knowledge, demonstrate healthy behaviors, and undergo cancer screening. According to the Mailman School study, a quarter of the men older than 50 years without a history of prostate cancer who were among the population of 7,000 men studied, remain unaware of the PSA test.
"Our primary findings suggested that smoking, physical inactivity and obesity are inversely associated with awareness of the PSA test. These risk behaviors are linked with higher prostate cancer morbidity and mortality," said Firas S. Ahmed, MD, MPH, Mailman School of Public Health, and first author. This finding may be due to a general lack of concern about health maintenance or less interactions with health care providers by smokers, according to Dr. Ahmed.
The earlier research also indicated that patients with prostate cancer who smoke present a worse prognosis than patients who do not smoke, and that obesity is associated with more advanced stages and higher grades of prostate cancer.
"The results concur with our initial hypothesis that men who adopt unhealthy lifestyles may be less concerned with health and less aware of preventive measures like the PSA test," says Luisa N. Borrell, DDS, PhD, adjunct assistant professor in the Mailman School of Public Health's Department of Epidemiology, and senior author. Given the associations between smoking, physical inactivity, and obesity with prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease, men with multiple risk behaviors would seem to be ideal targets for interventions to improve their awareness of the PSA test, the authors note.
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
"Our primary findings suggested that smoking, physical inactivity and obesity are inversely associated with awareness of the PSA test. These risk behaviors are linked with higher prostate cancer morbidity and mortality," said Firas S. Ahmed, MD, MPH, Mailman School of Public Health, and first author. This finding may be due to a general lack of concern about health maintenance or less interactions with health care providers by smokers, according to Dr. Ahmed.
The earlier research also indicated that patients with prostate cancer who smoke present a worse prognosis than patients who do not smoke, and that obesity is associated with more advanced stages and higher grades of prostate cancer.
"The results concur with our initial hypothesis that men who adopt unhealthy lifestyles may be less concerned with health and less aware of preventive measures like the PSA test," says Luisa N. Borrell, DDS, PhD, adjunct assistant professor in the Mailman School of Public Health's Department of Epidemiology, and senior author. Given the associations between smoking, physical inactivity, and obesity with prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease, men with multiple risk behaviors would seem to be ideal targets for interventions to improve their awareness of the PSA test, the authors note.
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
Prostate Cancer Current Events and Prostate Cancer News RSSRelationship between prostate information and lower urinary-tract symptoms evident
In the December issue of European Urology (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eururo) Dr. Curtis Nickel and associates report on the evidence of a relationship between prostate inflammation and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in men enrolled in the REDUCE trial.
A card-swipe for medical tests
University of Utah scientists successfully created a sensitive prototype device that could test for dozens or even hundreds of diseases simultaneously by acting like a credit card-swipe machine to scan a card loaded with microscopic blood, saliva or urine samples.
Media coverage of lung cancer is increasing, and increasingly negative, new report shows
CancerCare today announced that despite an overall increase in news reporting on lung cancer, the overall tone of lung cancer media coverage has become significantly more negative.
Supercomputer provides massive computational boost to biomedical research at TGen
In less time than the blink of an eye, the Translational Genomics Research Institute's new supercomputer at Arizona State University can do operations equal to every dollar in the recent Wall Street bailout.
Prostate cancer gene test provides new early detection
Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common male cancers in the Western world. Currently, early detection of PCa depends on an abnormal digital rectal examination and an elevated prostate-specific-antigen (PSA) level requiring a prostate biopsy, often associated with anxiety, discomfort, complications, and heavy expenses.
New Catheter-less Technique May Ease the Pain and Discomfort of Prostate Cancer Recovery
To ease the pain of recovery following prostate cancer surgery, physician-scientists have developed an innovative and patient-friendly approach that eliminates the use of a penile urinary catheter.
Racial disparities decline for cancer in Missouri
Cancer death rates in the United States are highest among African Americans, but a new report shows that in Missouri the disparity in cancer incidence and death between African Americans and whites is declining.
OHSU Cancer Institute researchers study breathing during radiation
Oregon Health & Science University researchers have determined exactly how much breathing affects prostate movement during radiation treatment.
Hormone therapy before radiation seed implants for prostate cancer
Men over 70 years of age with early-stage prostate cancer have 20 percent higher mortality if they are treated first with hormone therapy before being treated with radiation seed implants (brachytherapy), compared to men who are treated with brachytherapy alone.
Newly found gene variants account for kidney diseases among African-Americans
For the first time, researchers have identified variations in a single gene that are strongly associated with kidney diseases disproportionately affecting African-Americans. This work was conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and by NIH-funded investigators at the Johns Hopkins University.
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