Prostate Cancer–Specific Mortality Across Gleason Scores in Black vs Nonblack Men

The Gleason score is the best independent predictor of prostate cancer outcomes. The principle distinction between Gleason 6 disease vs Gleason 7 to 10 disease is that Gleason 6 disease does not necessarily need definitive treatment. 2 Nevertheless, the implications of Gleason score are less clear in black men because of disparate prostate cancer outcomes, particularly for Gleason 6 disease, in which risk assessment and management of disease in black men is controversial. We investigated prostate cancer-specific mortality by Gleason score and race.