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Men with breast cancer more likely to die than women

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An analysis by US and Chinese researchers of close to 1.9 million patients with breast cancer has revealed that men are less likely to survive after the diagnosis than women. The team found men to be 19 per cent more likely to die than their female counterparts, and it is likely that the majority of these cases (63.3 per cent) can be attributed to clinical factors and undertreatment. The authors state a few limitations around information on cancer recurrence and cause of death, but add that the remaining 36.7 per cent of cases could be related to biological factors, which would suggest more work is needed to tailor treatments for men with the disease.

Journal/conference: JAMA Oncology

Link to research (DOI): 10.1001/jamaoncol.2019.2803

Organisation/s: Vanderbilt University Medical Center, USA

Funder: DrWang was funded by the program of the China Scholarship Council.

Media Release

From: JAMA

Survival in Women, Men Diagnosed With Breast Cancer

Bottom Line: An analysis of nearly 1.9 million patients diagnosed with breast cancer suggests overall survival is lower among men than women and that undertreatments and clinical characteristics account for much of the difference. The study included National Cancer Database data for 16,025 male and 1.8 million female patients diagnosed with breast cancer between 2004-2014. Men had higher mortality across all breast cancer stages. For men, the three-year survival rate was 86.4% and the five-year survival rate was 77.6%. For women, the three-year survival rate was 91.7% and the five-year survival rate was 86.4%. Limitations of the study include a lack of information on cancer recurrence and cause of death, as well as missing information on details of cancer pathology and  treatment, patient compliance data, lifestyle factors and coexisting illnesses. Study authors suggest future research focus on why clinical characteristics and biological features may have different implications for survival in male and female patients with breast cancer.

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