Understanding how to improve outcomes for South Asian men with prostate cancer

Theme Diet and physical activity

Workstream Clinical diet and physical activity

Status: This project is ongoing

In most cases prostate cancer develops slowly and tends not to progress. Unfortunately, some people develop a cancer that is aggressive, spreads to other parts of the body, resists treatment and ends in death. This leads to over 300,000 men dying of prostate cancer each year around the world.

Genetic risk factors for prostate cancer include:

  • Age
  • Family history of the disease
  • Ethnicity (overall rates in Afro-Caribbeans are higher than in white or South Asian men)

Evidence suggests that how different ethnic groups perceive risk could influence testing and detection rates for prostate cancer. It is possible that South Asian men have dietary or other lifestyle factors that reduce their risk of prostate cancer compared with other ethnic groups.

We do not understand which dietary and lifestyle changes would be optimal and acceptable to South Asian men after they are diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer. Previous research in this area has focused on white or Afro-Caribbean men.

Project aims

This project aims to improve the experience and outcomes of prostate cancer treatment for South Asian men by:

  • Understanding South Asian men’s views and experiences of prostate cancer and treatment
  • Assessing which dietary and lifestyle changes would be acceptable and feasible for them
  • Investigating national patterns of prostate cancer detection and disease in South Asian men compared with other ethnicities

This project will work with South Asian men in Bradford and Leicester by building on established collaborations.

What we hope to achieve

Understanding more about the context within which South Asian men are diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer will help us inform how future interventions are designed and implemented.

This PhD project is being undertaken by Aiman Abbasi, as lead researcher, with Professor Athene Lane, Dr Emma Turner, Professor Richard Martin, Dr Julia Wade, Professor Karen Brown, and Dr Sufyan Dogra providing supervision.