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Does Bariatric Surgery Affect the Incidence of Breast Cancer Development? A Systematic Review

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Abstract

We reviewed the evidence for bariatric surgery reducing the risk of breast cancer. Data was extracted from multiple libraries, including PubMed, EMBASE, and Medline, to perform a systematic review. Abstracts were reviewed by two independent reviewers. Thirty-eight full-text articles were identified from 1171 abstracts. Four studies were included for meta-analysis; 114 of 10,533 (1.1%) patients receiving bariatric surgery versus 516 of 20,130 (2.6%) controls developed breast cancer, odds ratio 0.564 (95% CI 0.453 to 0.702) using a fixed effects model (P < 0.001) and odds ratio 0.585 (95% CI 0.247 to 1.386) using a random effects model (P 0.223). Bariatric surgery may reduce the risk of breast cancer. More research is required due to heterogeneity of studies, difficulty in identifying accurate controls, and limited follow-up.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Avinesh Pillai from the University of Auckland for his assistance with statistical analysis.

Funding

No funding was received for this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Surgery, Middlemore Hospital, Counties Manukau Health, Auckland, New Zealand

    Alec A. Winder, Malsha Kularatna & Andrew D. MacCormick

  2. Department of Surgery, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Andrew D. MacCormick

Authors
  1. Alec A. Winder
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  2. Malsha Kularatna
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  3. Andrew D. MacCormick
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alec A. Winder.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Disclosures

For this type of study, formal consent was not required. This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Appendix. Search Terms

Appendix. Search Terms

Obesity/morbid obesity/abdominal obesity/high body mass index/abdominal fat/adiposity/weight gain/body fat/intra-abdominal fat/overnutrition/body fatness/diabetic obesity/adipose tissue

bariatric surgery/bariatrics/gastroplasty/stomach bypass/gastric bypass/Roux-en-Y/biliopancreatic diversion/biliopancreatic bypass/jejunoileal bypass/bariatric medicine/gastric banding/laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding/sleeve gastrectomy/duodenal switch

Breast cancer/breast neoplasm/mammary cancer/mammary gland cancer/advanced breast cancer/early breast cancer/breast carcinoma/breast adenocarcinoma/breast metastasis/inflammatory breast cancer/intraductal carcinoma/neoplasm/cancer

Risk reduction/risk/cancer risk/population risk/risk benefit

((post-menopausal/post menopause) (not used in all databases))

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Winder, A.A., Kularatna, M. & MacCormick, A.D. Does Bariatric Surgery Affect the Incidence of Breast Cancer Development? A Systematic Review. OBES SURG 27, 3014–3020 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-017-2901-5

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