While rare, breast cancer can occur in men. When it does, mortality is three times higher among black men than white men, according to a new study.

The researchers note in the March 20th Journal of Clinical Oncology that black women with breast cancer also have a higher mortality than white women. “It is interesting that in (male breast cancer), as well, there are also disparities in survival,” Dr. Dawn L. Hershman told Reuters Health.

“By understanding the similarities between men and women with regard to disparities in breast cancer survival,” she added, “we may better understand the reasons for these disparities, and we will be one step closer to resolving the disparities in survival between blacks and whites.”

Hershman, from Columbia University, New York, and her associates investigated factors influencing outcomes among 456 white men and 34 black men diagnosed with breast cancer identified in a Medicare database.

The average age of the patients was 76 years. “Male breast cancer is primarily a disease of the elderly and is mostly a cancer that is hormone sensitive,” Hershman pointed out.

Black men were more likely than white men to have advanced-stage disease, larger tumor sizes, disease that had spread to the lymph nodes, poorly differentiated tumors, and higher rates of other illnesses, the team reports.

After accounting for known clinical and demographic factors, black men were about 48 percent less likely to be referred to a medical oncologist and 56 percent less likely to receive chemotherapy, compared with white men.

During an average follow-up of almost 5 years, about half the men died. The investigators found that blacks were 3.29-times more likely to die from the breast cancer (rather than another cause) than whites.

“Efforts should be made to ensure that patients with breast cancer receive and complete standard (add-on) therapy,” Dr. Hershman added. “Current data suggest this is not the case.”

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Oncology, March 20, 2007.