Prostate Cancer Care for Men with an Intellectual Disability: A Population-based Cohort Study of Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Survival

Summary

Intellectual disability (ID) is increasingly recognised as a hidden driver of cancer mortality. However, evidence on prostate cancer (PC) care in this population is limited. The study population comprised 29 554 men with an ID and 518 739 comparators from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum database, which is linked to hospital, mortality, and cancer registry data. Poisson and Cox regression analyses were used to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRRs), risk ratios (RRs), and hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for outcomes related to PC presentation, diagnosis, treatment, and survival. Authors conclude that men with an ID face disparities across the PC care pathway from investigation of relevant symptoms to survival after diagnosis. Targeted interventions are needed to address these inequities.