Christine Ibilibor, MD, highlights study of racial differences in abiraterone use

A recent analysis demonstrated that although African American men and non-African American men had comparable rates of abiraterone use for metastatic prostate cancer (23% vs 28%, respectively), African American men faced significant delays in treatment initiation. Specifically, the time from documented metastatic disease to treatment initiation with abiraterone plus androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) was 187 days for African American men vs 79 days for non-African American men (P = .042).

In a recent interview with Urology Times®, lead author Christine O. Ibilibor, MD, MSc, discussed these findings in-depth, as well as potential research directions to investigate system-level barriers to timely treatment initiation among African American men.

Ibilibor is an assistant professor at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

In total, the study included 201 patients with metastatic prostate cancer, of whom 28% were African American. African American men tended to be younger than non-African American men (47% vs. 27.8%; ≤ 69 years; P = .002).

Data showed that younger men tended to experience a longer time between diagnosis of metastatic disease and receipt of abiraterone plus ADT. Specifically, the average time for younger men (≤ 69 years) was 125 days vs 14 days in older men (P = .038).

Ibilibor noted that while the reasoning for these delays is unknown, differences between racial groups may coincide with previous data showing that African American men are less likely to receive novel systemic agents for prostate cancer. Further, the current study also showed differences in primary insurance payers between African American and non-African American men, which could also be a contributing factor.

Future work could include an additional assessment of this phenomenon in a larger, national database, as well as to explore the impact of these treatment delays on patients’ clinical outcomes, she noted.

REFERENCE

1. Ibilibor C, Jones M, Tomaszewski J, et al. Investigating the usage of abiraterone in African American men with metastatic prostate cancer. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2025. doi:10.1007/s40615-025-02533-3