Body mass index had different effects on premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer risks: a dose-response meta-analysis with 3,318,796 subjects from 31 cohort studies

BACKGROUND: There is sufficient evidence supporting a relationship between increased body mass index (BMI) and an increased risk for breast cancer among postmenopausal women. However, most studies have found a decreased risk for premenopausal breast cancer. This study was conducted to find out the different effects of BMI on the risk of breast cancer among premenopausal and postmenopausal women, and explore the potential factors that influence the associations. METHODS: A dose-response meta-analysis with 3,318,796 participants from 31 articles was conducted. Cohort studies that included BMI and corresponding breast cancer risk were selected through various databases including PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Chinese Scientific Journals (VIP). Random effects models were used for analyzing the data. RESULTS: The summary relative risks (RRs) were 1.33 (95%CI: 1.20–1.48) and 0.94(95%CI: 0.80–1.11) among postmenopausal and premenopausal women, respectively. The dose-response meta-analysis indicated a positive non-linear association between BMI and breast cancer risk among postmenopausal women, and compared to the mean level of the normal BMI category (21.5 kg/m(2)) the RR in total postmenopausal women were1.03 (95% CI: 1.02–1.05) per 1 kg/m(2) increment. However, no statistically significant association among total premenopausal women was detected. In subgroup analysis among European premenopausal women, the summary RR was 0.79(95%CI: 0.70–0.88). The non-linear relationship showed a negative non-linear association between BMI and breast cancer risk among European premenopausal women. When compared to the mean level of the normal BMI category, the RRs were 0.98 (95%CI: 0.96–1.00) per 1 kg/m(2) increment, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In line with previous studies BMI had different effects on pre-menopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer risk. However, contrary to previous studies, a high BMI was not associated with decreased risk in total pre-menopausal women. More research is needed to better understand these differences. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-017-4953-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.