Male breast cancer in the state of Florida (1981-2009)

Introduction: Male breast cancer is a rare condition, accounting for only about 1% of all breast cancers. Because breast cancer is atypical in males, the epidemiology of this disease is less known compared to breast cancer in women. We described the characteristics of male breast cancer in Florida using data from 1981-2009.

Methods: Data from the Florida Cancer Data System (FCDS), the Agency for Health Care Administration, and the Census were linked for male breast cancer patients (n=2,962). We calculated descriptive statistics on sociodemographic, clinical, tumor and treatment characteristics, and for median survival time (MST).

Results: Sociodemographic characteristics included: 91.4% White, 7.8% Black, 8.0% Hispanic; 69.2% married, 11% never married; 51.8% never smoked, 31.5% formerly smoked, 16.6% currently smoke (for those with known smoking status). Clinical and tumor characteristics: 25.5% with no other comorbidities, 52.0% with >4 comorbidities; 45.6% localized, 31.1% regional, and 6.1% distant stage; 69.6% ductal carcinoma. Treatments: 20.4% chemotherapy; 89.6% radiation therapy; 89.3% surgery, of which 48.1% were total or radical mastectomy. Overall MST in years was 7.9, but shorter in Blacks (5.5) than Whites (8.1), and in non-Hispanics (7.9) than Hispanics (8.4). MST increased sharply from patients living in areas of lowest socioeconomic status to highest (5.7, 7.4, 8.2, 9.0).

Conclusion: Less is known about male breast cancer, and there are differences from breast cancer in women. For example, women's MST is 11.8 years which is 4-years longer than men. Understanding the disease and patient characteristics will help us improve screening, treatments, and outcomes.