Overview
- Multiple myeloma rates are rising in the United States and occur about twice as often in men as in women.
- Men were more likely to be diagnosed at International Staging System stage III with higher monoclonal protein levels, greater organ damage including kidney failure, and more bone damage.
- Men were less likely to have low bone mineral density, and myeloma-defining clinical features differed by sex.
- These patterns remained after adjusting for age, race, body mass index, smoking, alcohol use, education, and income in the UAB IMAGE cohort.
- Genomic findings suggested certain initiating chromosomal abnormalities are more frequent in younger males, indicating possible routes for sex-informed risk stratification that remain preliminary.