Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2017 Mar 20:7:44877.
doi: 10.1038/srep44877.

Hypertension and breast cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Hedong Han  1 , Wei Guo  1 , Wentao Shi  1 , Yamei Yu  2 , Yunshuo Zhang  3 , Xiaofei Ye  1 , Jia He  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Hypertension and breast cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Hedong Han et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Observational studies examining the relationship between hypertension and breast cancer risk have reported conflicting findings. We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize the evidence regarding the association between hypertension and risk of breast cancer. Eligible studies were identified through a comprehensive literature search of PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane library until August 2016. We included observational studies that reported relative risks (RR) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results from individual studies were pooled by using a random-effects model. 29 articles of 30 studies, with totally 11643 cases of breast cancer, were eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. We observed a statistically significant association between hypertension and increased breast cancer risk (RR: 1.15; 95% CI: 1.08, 1.22). In the subgroup analysis, we found a positive association between hypertension and breast cancer incidence among postmenopausal women (RR: 1.20; 95% CI: 1.09, 1.31). In contrast, hypertension was not associated with risk of breast cancer among premenopausal women (RR: 0.97; 95% CI: 0.84, 1.12) and Asian population (RR: 1.07; 95% CI: 0.94, 1.22).This meta-analysis collectively suggests a significantly association between hypertension and breast cancer risk, specifically for postmenopausal hypertensive women.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Selection of studies for inclusion in this meta-analysis.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Forest plots of hypertension and the risk of breast cancer.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Forest plots of hypertension and the risk of premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Funnel plots of studies evaluating the risk of breast cancer associated with hypertension.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ferlay J. et al.. Cancer incidence and mortality worldwide: sources, methods and major patterns in GLOBOCAN 2012. International journal of cancer 136, E359–386 (2015). - PubMed
    1. Ban K. A. & Godellas C. V. Epidemiology of Breast Cancer. Surgical oncology clinics of North America 23, 409–422 (2014). - PubMed
    1. Youlden D. R. et al.. The descriptive epidemiology of female breast cancer: an international comparison of screening, incidence, survival and mortality. Cancer epidemiology 36, 237–248 (2012). - PubMed
    1. Li T., Mello-Thoms C. & Brennan P. C. Descriptive epidemiology of breast cancer in China: incidence, mortality, survival and prevalence. Breast cancer research and treatment, s10549-016-3947-0 (2016). - PubMed
    1. Boyle P. et al.. Diabetes and breast cancer risk: a meta-analysis. British journal of cancer 107, 1608–1617 (2012). - PMC - PubMed

Publication types