African American Male Breast Cancer

U.S. Black Men Have Higher Rates of All Types of Breast Cancer Compared to White Men

A study has found that Black men have higher rates of all types of breast cancer compared to white men in the United States.

This is different than the rates in women in the United States, where Black women have higher rates of triple-negative breast cancer — cancer that is progesterone-receptor-negative, estrogen-receptor-negative, and HER2-negative — but lower rates of hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer compared to white women. The research was published online on Dec. 12, 2019, by the journal JNCI Cancer Spectrum. Read the abstract of “Subtype-specific breast cancer Incidence rates in black versus white men in the United States.”

While breast cancer in men is rare, it does happen.

Fewer than 1% of all breast cancers are diagnosed in men. In 2019, about 2,670 new cases of invasive breast cancer were diagnosed in men. For men, the lifetime risk of getting breast cancer is about 1 in 833. Like breast cancer in women, breast cancer in men can be hormone-receptor-positive or hormone-receptor-negative, as well as HER2-positive or HER2-negative. Because the number of cases of breast cancer in men is relatively small compared to the number of cases in women, there is a lack of information on male breast cancer in general and there have been no studies focused specifically on male breast cancer.

The researchers did this study to see if the racial differences in breast cancer rates in women were the same for men.

Although it is rare, men can get breast cancer.

Pink and blue ribbon awareness male breast cancer

Male Breast Cancer Ribbon & Awareness

The results showed that rates of breast cancer were 52% higher in Black men than in white men: 2.75 per 100,000 Black men were diagnosed with breast cancer. 1.81 per 100,000 white men were diagnosed with breast cancer.