MORE BARBADIAN men die from prostate cancer than black men with the disease in the United States, according to new research.
Professor Anselm Hennis, the director of the Chronic Disease Research Centre, said that although the incidence of this type of was lower among Barbadian men than in African American men, the death rate here was worse. This result was borne out in a recently-completed study, the results of which are due to be released shortly.
Hennis said it was recognized that black men have “one of the highest rates of prostate cancer in the world and very bad outcomes”
Three years ago, the Barbados Cancer Society indicated that the disease was killing more than 100 men locally every year.
The Chronic Disease Research Centre conducted the Barbados National Cancer Study in collaboration with Stony Brook University in the United States, the National Human Genome Research Institute – part of the National Institutes of Health in Maryland – and the Trans National Genomics Group in Arizona, with support from Barbadian professor Trevor Hassell, chairman of the advisory board for the Chronic Disease Research Centre.
It is being described as the largest project to be done on prostate cancer in the Caribbean region, with over 1 000 men being studied.
“This was a very important study,” Hennis told the WEEKEND NATION.
Dr Dorothy Cooke-Johnson, the honorary secretary of the Barbados Cancer Society, had earlier claimed men were dying because of late-stage detection and she called for a total change to bring about early detection.
The Society introduced the life-saving Men Against Cancer programme through which men are offered tests for early detection of the disease.
The Cancer Society has also embarked on a joint prostate cancer response programme with the British Women’s Club, targeting males from as early as age 14.
