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ASSOCIATION OF SCHIZOPHRENIA WITH THE RISK OF BREAST CANCER INCIDENCE

Rates of breast cancer are higher in women with schizophrenia, new research shows


Rates of breast cancer are higher in women with schizophrenia than in women in the general population, new research shows.

 

Investigators in China and Maryland conducted a meta-analysis of studies that included more than 120,000 women and found that schizophrenia was associated with a significantly higher risk of breast cancer, although there was also significant heterogeneity found among the studies, Medscape Medical News reports.

 

Abstract

 

Importance of   patients with schizophrenia are considered to have many risk factors for the development of cancer. However, the incidence of breast cancer in women with schizophrenia compared to the general population remains uncertain.

 

Objective   To perform an updated meta-analysis to evaluate the association between schizophrenia and the risk of breast cancer.

 

Data Sources   A systematic search of the PubMed and EMBASE databases was conducted using the search terms of  schizophrenia ,  schizophrenic ,  psychosis , combined with  breast and cancer , tumor ,  neoplasm , or  carcinoma . The final literature search was performed on August 15, 2017.

 

Study Selection   Cohort studies report the standardized incidence rate (SIR) for the risk of breast cancer in women with schizophrenia compared to the general population.

 

Data Extraction and Synthesis   The meta-analysis adhered to Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology and the  Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions .Data extraction was performed independently. A random-effects model was used to pool the results, and a recently proposed prediction interval was calculated to describe the heterogeneity.

 

Key Outcomes and Measures   The SIR for the risk of breast cancer in women with schizophrenia compared to the general population or those without schizophrenia.

 

Results   Twelve cohorts including 125,760 women were included in this meta-analysis. The results of the meta-analysis showed that schizophrenia was associated with a significantly increased risk of breast cancer incidence in women (SIR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.14-1.50;  P  <.001), with significant heterogeneity ( P  <.001 ;  I2 = 89%). Substantial inter-study variance was also suggested by the wide prediction interval (0.81-2.10), which indicated that it is possible that a future study will show a reduced risk of breast cancer in women with schizophrenia compared to the general population.The subgroup analysis results showed that the association was not significantly affected by whether breast cancer cases were excluded at baseline or the sample size of the included studies.

 

Conclusions and Relevance   The incidence of breast cancer in women with schizophrenia is higher than that of the general female population. However, there is significant heterogeneity among the included studies. Women with schizophrenia deserve intensive prevention and treatment of breast cancer.

 

You can read the entire research article in JAMA Psychiatry .

 

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