The association between migraine and breast cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background Migraines is likely to play a protective role in the risk of breast cancer. Some studies have shown that there is an inverse relationship between migraine and breast cancer, and some studies have not found an association; therefore, results from previous studies have been inconclusive and we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate association between migraine and breast cancer. Methods PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus and Web of Science were searched to identify studies on the association between migraine and breast cancer from January 1, 2000 through March 12, 2021. The pooled relative risk (RR) and the 95% confidence intervals (CI) was used to measure this relationship by assuming a random effects meta-analytic model. Results A total of 10 studies were included. Our study revealed that there was statistically significant inverse relationship between migraine and breast cancer in case-control studies 0.68 [95% CI: 0.56, 0.82], but no significant relationship was found in cohort studies 0.98 [95% CI: 0.91, 1.06]. Also, migraine reduced the risk of ductal carcinoma 0.84 [95% CI: 0.73, 0.96], and lobular carcinoma 0.83 [95% CI: 0.73, 0.96]. With respect to ER_PR status no association between migraine and breast cancer was found. We found no evidence of publication bias. Conclusion Our analysis demonstrated a statistically significantly inverse relationship between migraine and total risk of breast cancer only in case-control studies. In summary, cohort studies do not support an inverse association between migraine and incident breast cancer. While in case-control studies, migraine has an inverse association with ductal carcinoma and lobular carcinoma of breast.

Profiling the Spectrum of Headache Disorders on 440 Breast Cancer Patients: Highlights on Clinical and Pathological Mechanisms

“…During recent decades, there have been many studies regarding the possible correlation between BC and headache disorders, specifically M [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 23 , 32 ]. BC is known to be the most frequent malignancy among women worldwide [ 3 , 17 ].…”

“…However, several publications have shown a possible beneficial effect of M on BC, suggesting a lower risk or a less aggressive BC profile, although some methodological bias could have influenced the outcome. Indeed, the protective effect of M on BC was highlighted only in case-control studies and not in cohort ones [ 10 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 23 , 32 ] and, to date, it is still an open issue. Plus, there is no clear explanation of the underlying mechanisms of how M could act as a BC protective factor.…”

“…Although the concordance among studies is incomplete, in some large epidemiological investigations, M seems to be associated with a lower overall risk [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ] and, in some cases, a less aggressive histopathological BC phenotype with a consequent better prognosis [ 11 ]. However, this relationship has been found only in case–control studies and not in cohort ones [ 10 , 12 , 13 , 14 ], suggesting that it could be either a causal or a spurious association due to the high prevalence of these two diseases in the global population. Indeed, tension-type headaches (TTH) and M are the second and third most common disorders worldwide [ 15 , 16 ], respectively, and BC is the most common neoplasm in women [ 3 , 17 ].…”

Effect of genetic liability to migraine and its subtypes on breast cancer: a mendelian randomization study

“…Migraine is a common primary headache that occurs more frequently in women than in men [ 3 , 29 , 30 ]. The concentration of estrogen is the main trigger for migraine headaches, and breast cancer is also associated with changes in estrogen [ 31 ].…”

“…However, Mathes et al also believed that they did not collect data on the use of NSAIDs, which has been shown in many studies to reduce the incidence of breast cancer [ 33 – 35 ]. There is also an explanation that patients with a history of migraine avoid migraine triggers (i.e., cigarette smoking, alcohol, stress, poor sleep), and some may increase the breast cancer risk [ 30 , 36 – 39 ]. In addition, migraine was not associated with breast cancer risk, as reported by a 2015 meta-analysis of 115,378 Nurses Health Studies (HR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.87 to 1.04) [ 11 ].…”