NEW YORK (Reuters Health) — 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.

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.