Prostate Cancer in UK Prisons: A Retrospective Data Analysis

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer affecting men in the UK and is the most common cancer in UK prisons.

Early diagnosis is vital because treatment is more effective when the disease is detected at an early stage. However, people in prison face significant barriers to healthcare, and little is known about how prostate cancer affects this population. This is concerning, as the prison population is ageing, and men over 50 are at the highest risk of developing prostate cancer.

Research shows that prisoners are more likely to be diagnosed with any cancer at a late stage, often through emergency hospital visits, and are less likely to receive timely or curative treatment compared to the general population. Survival rates are also worse. However, there are very little data from the UK describing prostate cancer diagnosis and outcomes in the UK from the prison population, which is why we want to find out information about prostate cancer diagnosis in prisons compared to in the general population.

This project, a collaboration between Oxleas NHS Trust and The Royal Marsden, will test and develop processes for extracting pseudo-anonymised data from the prison population. Using pseudo-anonymous data from prisoner health records in Oxleas NHS Trust, we will assess prevalence and examine how prostate cancer is diagnosed, the treatments offered, and the survival outcomes. We will compare these results against UK Genetic Prostate Cancer Study (UKGPCS) data about men of a similar age in the general population. Our aim is to understand whether prisoners face delays in diagnosis and worse outcomes, and to assess whether prison-based screening could help.

The findings will inform future healthcare research and the development of policies and may support the development of tailored educational resources and screening approaches, ultimately helping to reduce health inequalities and improve outcomes for people in prison.