Bone mineral density and breast cancer risk factors among premenopausal and postmenopausal women: A systematic review

BACKGROUND: Bone mineral density (BMD) is a lifetime marker of estrogen in a woman's body and has been associated with increased breast cancer risk. Nonetheless the actual association is still debatable. Furthermore, estrogen is very crucial in maintaining human bone density and gradually decreases over age. A systematic search was conducted to assess any association of BMD with breast cancer risk factors among premenopausal and postmenopausal women.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Review identification was performed through databases searching on MEDLINE, CINAHL and SCOPUS and 19 qualified studies were elected. The keywords used were "bone mineral density", "breast cancer", and "breast density".

RESULTS: A total of 19 articles showed variation with the majority of the studies focused on postmenopausal and a few focused on premenopausal women. Overall there was no concensus on effects.

CONCLUSIONS: An enormous effort is being undertaken by researchers to prove that BMD might be one of the significant risk factors for breast cancer.