Race-insurance disparities in prostate patients' magnetic resonance imaging biopsies and their subsequent cancer care: a New York State cohort study.

For organ-confined prostate cancer, socioeconomic factors influencing Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)-guided biopsy utilization and downstream prostate cancer patients' care are unknown. This retrospective, observational cohort study used the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) billing-code driven database to examine the impact of prostate patients' socioeconomic characteristics on prostate cancer care defined as initial biopsy, 2-month post-biopsy cancer diagnoses, and within 1-year cancer-related intervention, controlling for other risk factors. From 2011-2017, the population studied (n = 18,253) included all New York State-based, male, residents aged 18 to 75 without a prior prostatectomy receiving a first-time biopsy; 760 such patient records in 2016 were removed due to data quality concerns. Major exposures included patient age, race, ethnicity and insurance. The major outcome included receipt of MRI biopsy versus standard biopsy and for these sub-populations, subsequent 2-month post-biopsy metastatic versus non-metastatic prostate cancer diagnosis and within 1-year prostate cancer treatment (prostatectomy with or without radiation versus prostatectomy-only) were compared using dichotomous (primary) and time-to-event (secondary) endpoints. Of 17,493 patients with a first-time prostate biopsy, 3.89% had MRI guided biopsies; of the 17,128 patients with no pre-biopsy cancer diagnosis, the subsequent prostate cancer diagnosis rate was 42.59%. For 6,754 non-metastatic prostate cancer patients with 1-year follow-up, 1,674 (24.79%) received surgery (with or without radiation) and 495 (7.33%) received radiation-only. Holding other factors constant, multivariable regression models identified that race-insurance was a primary predictor of MRI-guided biopsy use. Compared to commercially insured White patients, Black patients across all insurance categories received MRI-guided biopsies less frequently; Commercially insured and self-pay Black patients also had increased chance of prostate cancer diagnosis. Across all insurers, Black patients had lower likelihood of prostatectomies. In contrast, Black and White patients with government insurance were more likely to have within 1-year radiation-only treatments versus commercially insured White patients. Thus, across the prostate cancer care continuum, race-insurance affected prostate cancer-related service utilization. Future research should evaluate the generalizability of these New York State findings.