SynthesisBalkan medical journal2022
Does the Sex of the Firstborn Child Affect the Breast Cancer Risk and Survival: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Over 1 Million Cases
Synthesis in Balkan medical journal, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 1 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Reports on the risk and prognosis of breast cancer in relation to the sex of a child have been conflicting. Since medical sciences play an important role in informing sociocultural understandings of health and illness, evidence-based studies have the potential to foster or counter stigma and shape social attitudes toward a newborn’s sex. Aims: To pool all available evidence to provide the highest level of evidence on the association between the sex of the first child and breast cancer risk or prognosis. Study Design: Systematic review and meta-analyses. Methods: A comprehensive search using three databases was conducted from inception until May 2020. Titles and abstracts of all papers identified were independently screened by two authors. Data extraction and quality assessment were also performed independently by two researchers. The breast cancer risk was quantified using the odds ratio, and the prognosis (i.e., mortality) was measured using the risk ratio. Results: In the meta-analysis, 11 studies with more than 1 million participants were included. The pooled estimate from the five studies on risk and the six studies on prognosis were odds ratio 0.99 (95% confidence interval, 0.95-1.03) and risk ratio 1.00 (95% confidence interval, 0.80-1.26), respectively. Conclusion: When we pooled all available evidence, the sex of the firstborn child was neither associated with risk nor prognosis in breast cancer. Clinically, our findings are reassuring and important, especially in light of previous studies that recommended differential treatment and counseling based on the sex of the first child. Socially, our findings challenge conventional social stereotypes that regard male children as biologically superior to female children.
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Registered trials
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