Prognosis of Male and Postmenopausal Female Breast Cancer Patients

Objective To compare the prognosis between male breast cancer(MBC) and postmenopausal female breast cancer(FBC) patients.

Methods We collected 50 MBC and 512 FBC patients without distant metastasis diagnosed by surgery. Survival curves were plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method, and the differences between the curves were analyzed by Log rank test. Survival analysis was performed on the subgroup variables with differences using the Cox proportional hazard analysis method. MBC and the postmenopausal FBC groups used propensity score matching and Cox regression analysis.

Results Compared with FBC patients, the expression rates of ER/PR were higher (χ²=30.651, P=0.000; χ²=26.909, P=0.000) and the positive expression rate of HER-2 was lower (χ²=24.274, P=0.000) in MBC patients. Univariate analysis showed that the OS of MBC patients was similar to that of premenopausal FBC patients (P=0.268), but lower than that of postmenopausal FBC patients (P=0.005); Cox regression analysis showed that MBC patients had poorer prognosis than postmenopausal FBC patients (P=0.000).

Conclusion Compared with post-menopausal FBC patients, MBC patients have higher ER/PR positive and lower HER-2 positive expression rate. And the OS of MBC patients is lower than that of postmenopausal FBC patients.