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Male breast cancer: a closer look at patient and tumor characteristics and factors that affect survival using the National Cancer Database

  • Epidemiology
  • Published:
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

To comprehensively describe the tumor and clinical characteristics of breast cancer in a cohort of male patients and to assess the factors that affect survival.

Background

Much of the standard care of male breast cancer is based on the diagnosis and treatment strategies of female breast cancer. However, important clinical differences between the two have been elucidated, which suggests the need for unique attention to male breast cancer.

Methods

We evaluated the records of male patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer between 2004 and 2015 using the National Cancer Database (NCDB). Data obtained were demographic characteristics, clinical and tumor data, type of therapy, as well as survival data. We used descriptive statistics to characterize our study population. We then performed a survival and Cox proportional hazards analysis.

Results

We identified 16,498 patients (median age: 63 years). Several treatment modalities were used, of which surgery was the most common (14,882 [90.4%]). The total follow-up time was 13 years (156 months). Five-year survival was 77.7% (95% CI 76.9–78.4) and 10-year survival was 60.7%. In a Cox proportional hazards model, mastectomy was associated with the greatest survival (hazard ratio [HR] 0.49; p < 0.001).

Conclusion

We report what is to our knowledge the largest national population-based cohort of male breast cancer patients. Importantly, our data suggests that similar to female patients, several treatment modalities are significantly associated with improved survival in male patients, particularly surgery. Increasing age, black race, government insurance, more comorbidities, and higher tumor stages are associated with decreased survival.

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Funding

No funding received.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins Breast Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA

    Samuel Sarmiento, Michael McColl, Leila Musavi, Lisa Jacobs, Charalampos Siotos & Mehran Habibi

  2. Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins Surgery Center for Outcomes Research (JSCOR), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA

    Faiz Gani & Joseph K. Canner

  3. Department of Surgery, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, Fujian, 350001, Sheng, China

    Fanmeng Fu

  4. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 4940 Eastern Ave, Rm A-562, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA

    Mehran Habibi

Authors
  1. Samuel Sarmiento
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  2. Michael McColl
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  3. Leila Musavi
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  4. Faiz Gani
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  5. Joseph K. Canner
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  6. Lisa Jacobs
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  7. Fanmeng Fu
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  8. Charalampos Siotos
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  9. Mehran Habibi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mehran Habibi.

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Conflict of interest

The National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) is a joint project of the Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons and the American Cancer Society. The CoC’s NCDB and the hospitals participating in the CoC NCDB are the source of the de-identified data used in this report. They have not verified the data and are not responsible for the statistical validity of the data analysis or the conclusions derived by the authors.

Ethical approval

De-identified data from the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB; see title page); IRB review not required. This study conforms to the Declaration of Helsinki ethical principles for medical research.

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Sarmiento, S., McColl, M., Musavi, L. et al. Male breast cancer: a closer look at patient and tumor characteristics and factors that affect survival using the National Cancer Database. Breast Cancer Res Treat 180, 471–479 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-020-05556-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-020-05556-y

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