Do ethnic disparities exist in disease burden and healthcare utilization of male breast cancer: a 9-year cohort study of 18.19 million adults in China

Abstract

Abstract Background As a rare disease, male breast cancer (MBC) is of increasing concern in China. Whether health inequalities of disease burden and healthcare utilization exist by ethnicity in male breast cancer remains unclear. We aim to measure disease burden and healthcare utilization by ethnicity among male breast cancer patients in China. Methods A retrospective cohort study was established during 2012–2021 based on Inner Mongolia Regional Health Information Platform. Disease burden including incidence, 5-year prevalence, mortality, survival rate, and medical cost were analyzed. Results Among 630 participants (mean [SD] age, 59.4 [13.1] years), age-standardized rates of incidence were 1.2 (95% CI: 0.4–2.1) per 100000. All-cause mortality was 50.8 per 1000 person-years (95% CI: 42.4–60.4) but breast cancer-specific mortality was 5.5 per 1000 person-years (95% CI: 3.0-9.3). Regarding ethnicity, Mongolian had a higher age-standardized 5-year prevalence rate than Han (3.2[95% CI: 2.5-4.0] vs 2.3[95% CI: 1.7-3.0], P = 0.016), but no significant differences existed in incidence rates, survival rates, and risk of all-cause and breast cancer-specific mortality. Patients residing in areas of lower GDP level were associated with increased breast-cancer specific mortality (HR, 22.5, [95% CI: 1.6–325.0]; P = 0.022). Conclusions This study revealed a moderate disease burden and relatively lower healthcare utilization for male breast cancer in Inner Mongolia, China. No significant ethnic disparities existed in disease burden and healthcare utilization. However, we still demanded for increasing attention to male breast cancer due to the crucial influence of economic factors on potential ethnic disparities.