Each year, more than 34,000 men in the U.S. die from prostate cancer. While early-stage disease is often highly treatable, outcomes still vary widely — especially by race, income, and geography. Catching the disease early can save lives, but real-world data on screening and diagnostic practices has long been fragmented or outdated.
A recent analysis from Truveta Research shows how deeply screening gaps persist, and how better data can help us close them. Drawing from nearly 4 million PSA test results, the study reveals how race, income, and time trends shape when men are tested — and when they aren’t.
- Black men had PSA values up to 3.1x higher than white or Asian men at first test, suggesting delayed detection.
- Men in the lowest income group had significantly higher PSA values at first test compared to men in the highest income group.
- Elevated PSA rates have increased since the pandemic for men under 80—a trend missed in legacy data sources like SEER, which currently only includes data up to 2022.
But PSA testing is only one part of the story.
Effective prostate cancer research demands more than screening insights alone. It requires a complete, longitudinal view of each patient’s care — including imaging, staging, treatment decisions, and outcomes.
A complete view of the prostate cancer patient journey
Prostate cancer is a chronic disease for many patients, and tracking progression over time is critical. Truveta provides complete, regulatory-grade EHR data linked to closed claims, mortality, and tumor genetics. With over 911,000 prostate cancer patient journeys, Truveta Data spans primary care, urology, oncology, and beyond—capturing critical moments traditional datasets miss, such as initial PSA testing, urologic management, and advanced imaging before diagnosis.
Truveta’s real-world dataset includes:
- 2.9 million PSA tests to analyze trends over time by age, race, or income.
- 2.7 million medication administrations to evaluate real-world treatment patterns, lines of therapy, and discontinuation.
- 198 million clinical notes with concepts available for research including ECOG status, Gleason score, staging, and progression of disease — providing critical insights that claims and registry data cannot.
- A nationally representative population, to support generalizability and subgroup analysis across geography, race, and social drivers of health.
These rich data assets empower researchers to ask and answer questions that registries like SEER and claims datasets cannot:
- When are patients getting screened, and who is being missed?
- How long are delays between diagnosis and getting patients on the right therapy?
- Are certain populations being undertreated, or treated differently?
Imaging is no longer a blind spot
Historically, prostate cancer screening revolved around PSA testing and digital rectal exams — both of which carry risks of overdiagnosis and missed detection. Today, advanced imaging modalities like mpMRI and PSMA-PET scans are increasingly used to guide prostate cancer screening, staging, and treatment decisions. Studies have shown that imaging can reduce unnecessary biopsies, improve detection of clinically significant cancer, and better characterize metastatic disease.
But these images — and their interpretations — are rarely included in traditional cancer registries or real-world datasets. Truveta changes that.
With over 5.8 million imaging studies related to prostate cancer — including mpMRI, PSMA-PET, transrectal ultrasound (TRUS), and CT/MRI follow-up — researchers can now study how imaging impacts detection, staging, progression, and care decisions. Imaging data is not just included — it’s linked to the full EHR, claims, and clinical notes to provide real-world context and depth.
All imaging studies are research-ready in Truveta Studio, or available for export to support analytics and AI workflows.
The future of prostate cancer research starts here
As screening debates return to the spotlight and treatment innovations accelerate, researchers need data that is representative, complete, and timely. Truveta empowers oncology teams with real-world data that reflects the full complexity of cancer care — and helps drive earlier detection, more equitable outcomes, and smarter treatment decisions.
Ready to unlock deeper answers in prostate cancer research? Let’s talk.