Minneapolis, MN- October 17, 2018 – The burden of risk factors for chronic disease is substantially higher in black men compared with their white counterparts, including a higher prevalence of obesity and hypertension. The Center for Healthy African American Men through Partnerships (CHAAMPS) presents results from several studies that pinpoint some of the issues and propose strategies to solve these in a special supplement to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

CHAAMPS is a National Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center funded in 2013 by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the NIH that aims to address these disparities in health risk. CHAAMPS, led Badrinath Konety, MD, at the University of Minnesota, Selwyn Vickers, MD, and James Shikany, DrPH, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. It collaborates with three national partners: National USA Foundation, Inc., 100 Black Men of America, Inc., and the National Football League.

The overarching goal of CHAAMPS is to address health disparities affecting black males. Specifically, CHAAMPS seeks to identify the socioeconomic, behavioral, and biological factors driving and sustaining the pronounced health disparities experienced by black males, targeting unintentional and violence-related injuries, along with chronic diseases—cardiovascular disease, cancer, and stroke. This is accomplished through a life course approach, pinpointing critical periods in a black man’s life during youth/adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, and old adulthood, when social context may be more salient in the way it affects physiology or shapes health behavior. The ultimate goal of CHAAMPS is to develop, implement, and evaluate interventions that will improve the health of black males through research, outreach, and training.

“This excellent compendium of articles represents research into the multidimensional healthcare disparities that affect African American men. It adds to the body of work allowing us to understand heretofore unappreciated influential factors and highlights innovative solutions that can potentially positively alter the trajectory of health and wellbeing among African American men,” said Badrinath R. Konety, MD, Guest Editor and CHAAMPS Principal Investigator, Professor and Chair, Department of Urology, Medical School, University of Minnesota.

Among the findings, researchers discovered black men are diagnosed with prostate cancer at nearly twice the rate of white men and are under-represented in prostate cancer research, including validation studies of new clinical tools such as genomic testing.

The study also identified barriers to genomic testing, which included a lack of terminology understanding, healthcare system mistrust, reluctance to seek medical care, and unfavorable attitudes toward research. Facilitators included family history, value of prevention, and the desire for health education. Barriers to research study participation included lack of prostate cancer knowledge, confusion about PSA testing, healthcare system distrust, and concerns about misuse of personal health information.

“Our study reinforces the importance of developing successful strategies for increasing black men’s participation in prostate cancer research trials,” said lead investigator Charles R. Rogers, PhD, MPH, MS, CHES®, Assistant Professor, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT(formerly at the University of Minnesota Medical School).

“Broad approaches to achieve these goals could include increasing the numbers of black doctors and researchers, which may help engender more trust in the system and increase transparency in the research process,” added lead investigator Christopher Warlick, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Urology, University of Minnesota Medical School.

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The featured articles are:

“A National Study of U.S. Emergency Departments: Racial Disparities in Hospitalizations for Heart Failure,” by Alexander X. Lo, MD, PhD, John P. Donnelly, PhD, Raegan W. Durant, MD, MPH, Sean P. Collins, MD, MSc, Emily B. Levitan, ScD, Alan B. Storrow, MD, and Vera Bittner, MD, MSPH (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2018.05.020)  
Contact for further information: Dr. Alexander X. Lo at alexander.lo@northwestern.edu

“Preventing Violent Encounters Between Police and Young Black Men: A Comparative Case Study,” by Rhonda Jones-Webb, DrPH, Collin Calvert, MPH, and Sonya S. Brady, PhD (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2018.05.016)
Contact for further information: Dr. Rhonda Jones-Webb at jones010@umn.edu

“Attitudes Toward Genomic Testing and Prostate Cancer Research Among Black Men,” by Charles R. Rogers, PhD, MPH, MS, Michael J. Rovito, PhD, Musse Hussein, BS, Ogechi Jessica Obidike, MPH, Rebekah Pratt, PhD, Mark Alexander, PhD, MPH, Jerica M. Berge, PhD, MPH, Marc Dall’Era, MD, Jeffrey W. Nix, MD, and Christopher Warlick, MD, PhD (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2018.05.028)  
Contact for further information: Dr. Charles R. Rogers at charles.rogers@utah.edu

These articles appear in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, volume 55, issue 5, supplement (November 2018), published by Elsevier. Upon publication, the supplement will be openly available at https://www.ajpmonline.org/issue/S0749-3797(18)X0004-X. Please visit this site to view the table of contents and access the full text of all contributions.

The table of contents and full text of all articles in the supplement are available to journalists.

This supplement issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health [grant number U54MD008620].
 

About the American Journal of Preventive Medicine
The American Journal of Preventive Medicine is the official journal of the American College of Preventive Medicine and the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research. It publishes articles in the areas of prevention research, teaching, practice and policy. Original research is published on interventions aimed at the prevention of chronic and acute disease and the promotion of individual and community health. The journal features papers that address the primary and secondary prevention of important clinical, behavioral and public health issues such as injury and violence, infectious disease, women's health, smoking, sedentary behaviors and physical activity, nutrition, diabetes, obesity, and alcohol and drug abuse. Papers also address educational initiatives aimed at improving the ability of health professionals to provide effective clinical prevention and public health services. The journal also publishes official policy statements from the two co-sponsoring organizations, health services research pertinent to prevention and public health, review articles, media reviews, and editorials. www.ajpmonline.org

 

About the University of Minnesota Medical School
The University of Minnesota Medical School is at the forefront of learning and discovery, transforming medical care and educating the next generation of physicians. Our graduates and faculty produce high-impact biomedical research and advance the practice of medicine. Visit med.umn.edu to learn how the University of Minnesota is innovating all aspects of medicine.