Building a Global Cohort of Advanced Prostate Cancer Survivors

Department of Epidemiology Seminar Series

Speaker:
Lorelei Mucci, ScD
Professor of Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Abstract: In the United States alone, 3.6 million men are prostate cancer survivors, and this number is expected to rise with the aging of the population as well as the approval of newer therapies in the advanced disease setting that prolong life. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among US men, and is associated with substantial racial disparities. There is considerable clinical heterogeneity in outcomes among prostate cancer survivors. An estimated 180,000 men in the United States are advanced prostate cancer survivors. The survivorship experience of these men is impacted as they are at greatest risk of cancer death and suffer quality of life detriments both due to the severity of disease and its therapies. There are significant gaps in understanding the survivorship experience of men with advanced prostate cancer. To this end, we are building IRONMAN, an international, population-based cohort of advanced prostate cancer survivors. This talk will describe the overall goals of the IRONMAN study, the motivation and its aims, present preliminary results, and discuss some of the challenges of recruiting an international and diverse cohort, an overview of current projects, as well as opportunities for collaboration.