Abstract 38: Racial disparities in prostate cancer mortality rates explained by differences in dietary and lifestyle factors

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Abstract Introduction: Black men have 2.1 times higher prostate cancer mortality rates than White men in the United States, yet the reasons for this disparity remain unclear. Several dietary and lifestyle factors may influence the risk of developing lethal prostate cancer. This study evaluated to what extent differences in the prevalence of modifiable risk factors by race could explain racial disparities in prostate cancer mortality. Methods: Our study utilized data from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS, N=51,529 men, 1986-2016) and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Study (NHANES, 2000-2010). First, we used data from NHANES to estimate the prevalence of three factors among Black and White men: smoking, vitamin D, and coffee. Then, using HPFS, we generated relative risk estimates for lethal prostate cancer for each factor. To estimate the relative prostate cancer burden associated with these risk factors, we calculated the population attributable fraction (PAF) for each factor by self-identified race, defined as the reduction in mortality that would be achieved if the population had been entirely unexposed, compared with the current exposure pattern. We then calculated the difference in the PAF between Black and white men to estimate the difference in mortality reduction between the two groups if all men had been entirely unexposed, assuming causality of risk factors and no effect modification by race. Results: There were notable differences in the prevalence of several risk factors by race. For example, Black men had significantly lower levels of vitamin D[MLA1], were less likely to drink coffee, and had a higher prevalence of smoking compared to white men. We estimated that eliminating these risk factors among Black men could lead to a reduction in prostate cancer mortality that is 4-14% larger compared to eliminating these risk factors among white men. Conclusions: Modifiable lifestyle and dietary factors are potentially responsible for a proportion of the racial disparity in prostate cancer mortality. Our future work will expand the modifiable factors as well as incorporating more contemporary comparisons of the prevalence of these factors to predict future disparities in prostate cancer. Citation Format: Emily Rencsok, Michelle Sodipo, Travis Gerke, Konrad Stopsack, Lorelei Mucci. Racial disparities in prostate cancer mortality rates explained by differences in dietary and lifestyle factors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 38.