Comorbidities and Health Outcomes of African American Men With Prostate Cancer: Analysis of Outpatient Claims and Hospital Discharge Data

A study was funded by the US Army Medical Research and Material Command titled, Comorbidities and Health Outcomes of African American Men with Prostate Cancer: An Analysis of Outpatient and Hospital Discharge Data. The primary data source that was used for this study is the SEER-HCFA Linked Data Set for African Americans with Prostate Cancer. These data contain encounters for the years 1995 and 1996 for all Medicare patients with prostate cancer including charges and payments made by the Medicare program. However, as a result of the delays in obtaining this complex data set, we have chosen to develop a baseline analysis over an eighteen year period using the National Hospital Discharge Survey Multi-Year Data File, 1979-1997. This data set will focus on all US inpatients with prostate cancer, those having radical prostatectomies, and most importantly, the characteristics and trends for this disease and procedure for African Americans. Patients were identified from the years 1979 through 1997 who matched the principle diagnosis of prostate cancer (ICD-9-CM=185). In addition, we identified those diseases that simultaneously existed with the admission of the patient identified as comorbidities along with those diagnoses that occurred intra-operatively and postoperatively. The goal of the study was to measure the eighteen year trends of demographics of patients with prostate cancer, radical prostatectomies and most importantly, the risk factors attributable to African Americans. --Original contains color plates: All DTIC reproductions will be in black and white.