title: Plasma prolactin and breast cancer risk: a meta- analysis.
abstract: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, and its incidence is on a constant rise. Previous studies suggest that higher levels of plasma prolactin are associated with escalated risk of breast cancer, however, these results are contradictory and inconclusive. PubMed and Medline were used to search and identify published observational studies that assessed the relationship between plasma prolactin levels and the risk of breast cancer. The pooled relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a fixed-effects or random-effects model. A total of 7 studies were included in our analysis. For the highest versus lowest levels of plasma prolactin, the pooled RR (95% CI) of breast cancer were 1.16 (1.04, 1.29). In subgroup analyses, we found a positive association between plasma prolactin levels and the risk of breast cancer among the patients who were postmenopausal, ER(+)/PR(+) or in situ and invasive carcinoma. However, this positive association was not detected in the premenopausal and ER(-)/PR(-) patients. In conclusion, the present study provides evidence supporting a significantly positive association between plasma prolactin levels and the risk of breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Breast Disease Center, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, China.
authors.forename: Minghao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Breast Disease Center, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, China.
authors.forename: Xiujuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Breast Disease Center, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, China.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chai
authors.affiliation: Breast Disease Center, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Breast Disease Center, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010949:Plasma / Q000737:chemistry*; D011388:Prolactin / Q000097:blood*; D018570:Risk Assessment
chemical_list: D011388:Prolactin