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REVIEW article

Front. Genet.

Sec. Cancer Genetics and Oncogenomics

This article is part of the Research TopicThe Role of Multi-Omics Approaches in Advancing Cancer Research and Precision OncologyView all articles

The risk factors for chemotherapy myelosuppression in breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Provisionally accepted
Yuan  yuan ZhuYuan yuan ZhuDe  lan ZengDe lan Zeng*Yang  LiYang LiNi  LiNi Li
  • nursing college, GuangXi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Aim: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence and identify the risk factors associated with chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression (CIM) in breast cancer patients. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science, Medline, Scopus,CNKI, CBM,Wanfang Data Knowledge Service and VIP databases were searched from the inception to February 2025 for cross-sectional, cohort, and case-control studies investigating the prevalence and risk factors of CIM in breast cancer patients. Two researchers independently screened the literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and conducted data extraction and quality evaluation. Meta-analysis of the included literature was performed using Stata software. Results: A total of 24 studies involving 17,492 patients were included, and 21 potential risk factors were extracted. The pooled prevalence of CIM across all studies was 47.9%. Significant risk factors for CIM in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy included Age, BMI, Pathological staging, hemoglobin, Lymphocyte, Diabetes, Liver function, history of radiotherapy, chemotherapy regimen, genetic factors, albumin. (all P < 0.05). Conclusions: CIM is a common and significant adverse effect in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, influenced by multiple risk factors. Identifying and understanding these factors can provide a crucial theoretical basis for healthcare professionals to develop targeted strategies for prevention and management, ultimately enhancing patient outcomes.

Keywords: breast cancer, chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression, risk factor, Meta-analysis, Incidence

Received: 13 Sep 2025; Accepted: 30 Oct 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Zhu, Zeng, Li and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: De lan Zeng, 503dl@163.com

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