LAUSR

Commentary on: Chou AIW, Wang Y-C, Lin C-L, et al . Female schizophrenia patients and risk of breast cancer: a population-based cohort study. Schizophrenia Research 2017;188:165–171. Research into rates of breast cancer in women with schizophrenia shows conflicting results, with reports of increased, decreased and the same risk as the general population. This is despite women with schizophrenia possibly being at increased risk of breast cancer through use of antipsychotic medications, many of which increase prolactin, a hormone involved in cellular differentiation of the mammary glands. This study1 investigated rates of breast cancer in individuals with schizophrenia compared with the general population. The authors used large databases of routinely collected health data to compare rates of breast cancer in women with schizophrenia receiving antipsychotics (n=10 727) with rates in women without schizophrenia nor receiving antipsychotic drugs (n=10 727). The groups were matched on the following variables known …