Uninsured with prostate cancer at an advanced stage More
Although there are unresolved questions about the risks and benefits of PSA screening, it is important that all people have the opportunity to be informed of this option and access to other preventive health services and primary care, he continued. In addition, it highlights the importance of continued research to reduce uncertainty about the prevention and early detection of prostate cancer, prognostic factors and better treatment.They analyzed the records of the data from the National Cancer 312,339 patients with prostate cancer diagnosed between 2004 and 2006 to compare insurance and measures of disease severity: prostate-specific antigen (PSA), Gleason score ( a higher score indicates a more aggressive cancer and a worse prognosis), and tumor stage.
The study is published online in the journal Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention of Cancer.
Source: Cancer Online, 13 September 2010, American Cancer Society, new release, September 14, 2010.
Patients with prostate cancer who are uninsured or on Medicaid at the time of diagnosis tend to have more severe disease, probably because they have less access to medical care, report researchers from the United States.
Strong correlation between the insurance and the severity of the disease are probably related to the lack of access to preventive services such as PSA screening and barriers to timely medical evaluation of urologic symptoms, the American Cancer Society epidemiologist Stacey A.
Fedewa said in a press release by the company cancer.
The five-year survival rate for men in relation to advanced prostate cancer is 30.6 %, compared to 100 per cent for patients diagnosed with localized prostate cancer or regional level, according to the American Cancer Society.