Study summary · research use only
Breast pain
Plain-language summary
Paraphrased from the published abstract below — not a verdict on whether anything works.
This systematic review examined treatments for breast pain in women. The authors describe breast pain as cyclical or non-cyclical, originating from the breast or chest wall, occurring at some time in 70% of women, with cyclical pain resolving spontaneously in 20-30% but recurring in 60%, and non-cyclical pain responding poorly to treatment but resolving spontaneously in half of women. They searched Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and other databases up to January 2006 and included harms alerts from the FDA and MHRA, finding 22 systematic reviews, RCTs, or observational studies meeting inclusion criteria. The review presents information on interventions including a low-fat diet, antibiotics, bromocriptine, danazol, diuretics, evening primrose oil, gestrinone, gonadorelin analogues, hormone replacement therapy, lisuride, progestogens, pyridoxine, tamoxifen, tibolone, topical NSAIDs, toremifene, and vitamin E.
Abstract
Breast pain may be cyclical (worse before a period) or non-cyclical, originating from the breast or the chest wall, and occurs at some time in 70% of women. Cyclical breast pain resolves spontaneously in 20-30% of women, but tends to recur in 60% of women. Non-cyclical pain responds poorly to treatment but tends to resolve spontaneously in half of women. We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical question: What are the effects of treatments for breast pain? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library and other important databases up to January 2006 (Clinical Evidence reviews are updated periodically, please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). We found 22 systematic reviews, RCTs, or observational studies that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions. In this systematic review we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: a low-fat diet, antibiotics, bromocriptine, danazol, diuretics, evening primrose oil, gestrinone, gonadorelin analogues, hormone replacement therapy, lisuride, progestogens, pyridoxine, tamoxifen, tibolone, topical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, toremifene, and vitamin E.
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