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Does thyroid dysfunction increase the risk of breast cancer? A systematic review and meta-analysis

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Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the relationship between hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, thyroid hormone replacement, and the risk of breast cancer.

Methods

We searched the PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMbase, Web of Science, and China Biology Medicine (CBM) databases through June 2016 to identify researches that assessed the relationship between thyroid dysfunction and the risk of breast cancer together with the impact of thyroid hormone substitution treatment on incidence of breast cancer. Quality of evidence was assessed per outcome, using GRADE.

Results

A total of 13 population-based studies including 24,808 participants were identified as eligible for this meta-analysis. A meta-analysis of 12 researches illustrated that hypothyroidism was not related to the risk for breast cancer [odds ratio (OR) = 0.83, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.64–1.08, P = 0.162]. 10 researches illustrated that hyperthyroidism was also not related to the risk of breast cancer (OR = 1.03, 95% CI 0.83–1.30, P = 0.767). The impact of therapy was evaluated in six researches; there was no proof of a relationship between thyroid hormone substitution treatment and breast cancer with an overall OR of 0.83 (95% CI 0.57–1.21, P = 0.965).

Conclusions

Our meta-analysis illustrated that thyroid dysfunction may not be related to increased risk of breast cancer as well as the thyroid hormone substitution treatment did not reduce the incidence of breast cancer; while this study has some confounders that might weaken the results of this meta-analysis, we believe that the findings provide valuable information for stakeholders concerned with outcomes in patients with thyroid dysfunction.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Limin Tian (Gansu Provincial Hospital), Kehu Yang, Yaolong Chen and Jinhui Tian (Evidence Based Medicine Center of Lanzhou University) for their help and support to the methodology and meta-analysis process.

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Author notes

  1. Y. Fang and L. Yao contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Endocrinology, Gansu Provincial Hospital, Dong gang West Road, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, People’s Republic of China

    Y. Fang, J. Sun, R. Yang & L. Tian

  2. Clinical Evidence Based Medicine Center, Gansu Provincial Hospital, Dong gang West Road, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, People’s Republic of China

    L. Yao

  3. Evidence Based Medicine Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, People’s Republic of China

    Y. Chen, J. Tian & K. Yang

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  1. Y. Fang
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Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: LT. Performed the experiments: YF. Analyzed the data: JS, LY, RY. Wrote the paper: YF. Offered suggestions: LT, KY, LY.

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Correspondence to K. Yang or L. Tian.

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Fang, Y., Yao, L., Sun, J. et al. Does thyroid dysfunction increase the risk of breast cancer? A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Endocrinol Invest 40, 1035–1047 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-017-0679-x

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