Prevalence of men's health history in male breast cancer patients.

INTRODUCTION: Male breast carcinoma (MBC) is an uncommon disease, accounting for less than 0.5% of cancer diagnoses in men. Data on the prevalence thereof in Argentina are unknown. PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of a men's health history associated with MBC as well as the anthropometric and clinical characteristics of the study population. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included all men according to original biological sex over 18 years of age with a history of breast cancer who sought care at the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires [Italian Hospital of Buenos Aires] between January 2010 and December 2018. RESULTS: We included 57 men with breast cancer. Their median age was 71 years. Of them, 53.06% had obesity and 24.53% had diabetes. With respect to men's health history, 5.56% (2/36) had infertility, 29.17% (14/48) had gynaecomastia and 60.71% (17/28) had sexual dysfunction. Some 63% (7/11) had androgen deficiency based on laboratory diagnosis; of them, 45.45% (5/11) had high gonadotropins. CONCLUSION: We identified similarities with the literature as to the prevalence of obesity, diabetes and infertility in patients with MBC. The prevalence of testosterone deficiency was higher than reported for men of the same age. Many of these factors support the need to examine the role of endogenous hormones. Further research is required to help physicians care for and counsel men at higher risk of this disease.