SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Breast Cancer
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1569109
Reproductive outcomes of Pregnancy after Breast Cancer ： an Updated Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Provisionally accepted
- Department of Oncology, Guang’anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
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Background: Reproductive outcomes following pregnancy in premenopausal women with breast cancer (BC) remain contentious, and few meta-analyses have adequately addressed these questions. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to provide the most up-to-date and comprehensive evidence on the subject.Ten electronic databases were searched in September 2024 using the terms "Breast Neoplasms" AND "Pregnancy OR Fertilization OR Parturition OR Fertility OR Obstetrics". Key inclusion criteria focused on reproductive outcomes in premenopausal women with BC compared to healthy populations. Primary outcomes included pregnancy outcomes, obstetrical outcomes, fetal outcomes, and pregnancy complications. The review adhered to the PRISMA guidelines and MOOSE statement. Depending on study type, dichotomous variables were analyzed using relative risk, odds ratio, hazard ratio, standardized birth ratio, and 95% confidence interval. To preserve the accuracy of findings, original effect measures were used, while other studies were addressed in the systematic review.Results: Out of 35,324 records identified, 26 studies met inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis indicated that women with breast cancer had lower pregnancy prevalence, lower completed pregnancy rate, lower childbirth rate, lower birth trauma rate, and higher rates of cesarean delivery and preterm birth compared to healthy controls. Offspring of women with breast cancer had higher risks of very low birth weight, low birth weight, fetal abnormalities, and a lower live birth rate. The systematic review further showed increased risks of intrapartum hemorrhage, induced delivery, spontaneous delivery, failed induction of labor, prolonged labor, fetal stress, and delivery-related complications in this group, along with a lower rate of full-term delivery and reduced incidence of gestational hypertension.Conclusions: Pregnancy outcomes after breast cancer are often unsatisfactory. Patients and clinicians should approach pregnancy planning with care, ensuring thorough assessment and appropriate testing throughout the process.
Keywords: breast cancer, Pregnancy, Reproductive outcomes, Meta, review
Received: 31 Jan 2025; Accepted: 09 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Song, Mei, Lu, Zhang, Liu, Wang, Zhuo and Chang. 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: Wenping Lu, Department of Oncology, Guang’anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
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