SynthesisPloS one2020
Does marital status correlate with the female breast cancer risk? A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- Risk factors for breast cancer: an umbrella review of observational cohort studies and causal relationship analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Social Representativeness and Intervention Adherence-A Systematic Review of Clinical Physical Activity Trials in Breast Cancer Patients.International journal of public health · 2024Pooled it
- Influence of lifestyle factors on breast cancer incidence from mid-life to older age: an Australian longitudinal cohort study.BMJ open · 2026Article
- The clinicopathological and molecular landscape of breast cancer patients: a retrospective study in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Shifting Marital Landscapes: Non-marriage and Its Public Health Implications in China, South Korea, and Japan.Journal of community health · 2025Article
- Prevalence and associated factors of mammography uptake among the women aged 45 years and above: policy implications from the longitudinal ageing study in India wave I survey.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Social networks, social determinants, and mortality: Western New York Exposures and Breast Cancer study.JNCI cancer spectrum · 2024Article
- Machine learning techniques to identify risk factors of breast cancer among women in Mashhad, Iran.Journal of preventive medicine and hygiene · 2024Article
- Impact of pain on functional status and quality of life in Jordanian women with breast cancer.PloS one · 2024Article
- Quality-of-life among women with breast cancer: application of the international classification of functioning, disability and health model.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Predictive factors of breast cancer mammography screening among Iranian women.Journal of preventive medicine and hygiene · 2023Article
- Association of Cytidine Deaminase Polymorphism with Capecitabine Effectiveness in Breast Cancer Patients.Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP · 2023Article
- Association between marital status and all-cause mortality of patients with metastatic breast cancer: a population-based study.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Occupational Factors and Socioeconomic Differences in Breast Cancer Risk and Stage at Diagnosis in Swiss Working Women.Cancers · 2022Article
- Modifiable (Sleeping Pattern and Stress) and Non-Modifiable Risk Factors Associated with Breast Cancer: A Matched Case-Control Study in Delhi, India.Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP · 2022Article
- A Nomogram Predicting the Overall Survival and Cancer-Specific Survival in Patients with Parathyroid Cancer: A Retrospective Study.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Article
- Sociodemographic Factors and Health Insurance Coverage Are Associated with Invasive Breast Cancer in Tennessee: Appalachian and Non-Appalachian County Comparison.Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.) · 2022Article
- Intersectional social-economic inequalities in breast cancer screening in India: analysis of the National Family Health Survey.BMC women's health · 2021Article
- Assessing health disparities in breast cancer incidence burden in Tennessee: geospatial analysis.BMC women's health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
16 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate that whether an association between marital status and the female breast cancer risk exists.
methodsThe MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO databases were searched from their inception to July 2019. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to rate the methodological quality of included studies. Study data were pooled using random-effects meta-analyses to compare the breast cancer risk between unmarried, widowed, divorced or lifelong single women and married women. This study is registered with PROSPERO (number CRD42018112368).
resultsForty-nine publications were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with married women, unmarried and lifelong single women had an elevated risk of breast cancer, and the pooled ORs of case-control studies were 1.20 (95% CI: 1.07 to 1.35) and 1.24 (95% CI: 1.05 to 1.45), respectively. In the subgroup analyses under these two comparisons, hospital-based estimates and multivariate-adjusted estimates demonstrated a strong association, while population-based estimates and age-adjusted estimates produced nonsignificant results. The pooled OR of cohort studies examining the effect of being a lifelong single woman was 1.10 (95% CI: 1.04 to 1.16). Heterogeneity was moderate to substantial across case-control studies (I2: 46% to 82%), which may be partially explained by differences in geographic regions, publication years and control types. Possible publication bias was indicated by the funnel plot and Egger's test (P = 0.03).
conclusionsMarital status may correlate with the risk of developing female breast cancer. However, suboptimal selection of controls, insufficient exploration of confounding effects, inadequate ascertainment of marital status, and possible publication bias may have limited the quality of the available evidence. Overall, conclusions that marital status is an independent risk factor for breast cancer could not be drawn, and further prospective rigorous cohort studies are warranted.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.