Why are Black men at greater risk for prostate cancer?

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologized this week for not being more transparent about his prostate cancer diagnosis, acknowledging that the news had not only affected him but also shocked many others, “especially in the Black community.”

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“It was a gut punch,” Austin said Thursday at a news briefing.

The diagnosis — which was made public Jan. 9, about a week after he had been hospitalized with complications from cancer surgery, blindsiding even the White House — has renewed public discussion around prostate cancer in the Black community.

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