· May 21, 2024 ·
Translating disparities research into action for men with prostate cancer
Alexander P. Cole, MD and Quoc-Dien Trinh, MD, MBA work closely with members of the local community to improve access to prostate cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment for Black men in Massachusetts.
Adapted from the 2024 CSPH Annual Report
Prostate cancer affects over 200,000 people in the U.S. annually, making up almost 30% of all cancer cases in men, and is the most frequently diagnosed type of cancer in men in Massachusetts. However, the impact of prostate cancer is not experienced equally.
"Despite having near-universal insurance coverage in Massachusetts, men of color are 22% less likely to receive treatment for prostate cancer when treatment is warranted," Quoc-Dien Trinh, MD, MBA, a urologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, explained.
CSPH researchers, Dr. Trinh and Alexander P. Cole, MD, along with their research fellows at CSPH, have produced significant research on prostate cancer disparities. They have worked closely with members of the local community to translate this research to design interventions to improve access to life-saving treatment.
Dr. Cole’s work has shown that racial disparities in prostate cancer outcomes can be substantially reduced in equal access health systems and that including shared decision-making can lessen disparities by race in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, the primary screening test used to detect prostate cancer. In June 2023, he was awarded a $1.3 million Physician Research Award from the Department of Defense to remove barriers to advanced testing and imaging services for Black men at risk for prostate cancer. In October 2023, he received a Young Investigator Award from the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the American Cancer Society for the “Rural Outpatient Advanced Diagnostics to Maximize Access to Prostate Health” (ROADMAP) study. This study will investigate the nature of disparities in access to prostate cancer care in rural settings.
Serving the Community through the Prostate Cancer Outreach Clinic
In late 2021, Dr. Trinh and colleagues received funding from Mass General Brigham’s United Against Racism campaign, which supports research into health inequities and seeks to build more equitable patient care across the MGB system. These funds helped create the Prostate Cancer Outreach Clinic (PCOC), which improves access to prostate cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment for Black men in Massachusetts and provides insights into barriers to care and why men avoid medical care at academic medical centers like the Brigham and Mass General Hospital. Early insights from Dr. Trinh’s and Dr. Cole’s work informed the development of the clinic, which centers its work around proactive outreach and education initiatives.
Since its inception, the clinic has seen over 250 patients. Dr. Trinh engages in direct community outreach at churches and community centers to encourage patients to get screened and visit the clinic. At the clinic, if a PSA test comes back with abnormal results, the information is sent to a community health worker, who works directly with the patient to ensure appropriate follow-up. Dr. Trinh was recently awarded a $1.5 million Health Disparity Award from the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program to explore the burden of transportation as a barrier to cancer treatment and whether providing ridesharing services is an effective means to reduce missed appointments.
