Currently submitted to: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Oct 18, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Oct 19, 2026 - Dec 14, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Non-Genetic Risk Factors for Breast Cancer among Women in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review Protocol
ABSTRACT
Background:
Breast cancer (BC) is the leading cancer among women globally and represents a growing public health concern especially, in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Despite several studies examining potential risk factors for BC, a comprehensive review of non-genetic risk factors (NGRFs) for BC in SSA is lacking
Objective:
The primary objective of this systematic review is to evaluate NGRFs for BC among women with BC in SSA. The secondary objective is to assess NGRFs for BC for specific subregions within SSA.
Methods:
A systematic review will be conducted as per the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Information sources for citations will include PUBMED/MEDLINE, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and Cochrane library, and will be searched for observational studies published in English language from January 2000 to December 2026. Studies reporting associations between non-genetic risk factors and occurrence of BC among women in SSA will be included in the analysis. Study quality and risk bias will be assessed using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale. For risk factors identified in four or more studies, results will be summarized in a narrative manner.
Results:
This study will synthesize available information reporting on different non-genetic risk factors for BC among women in SSA. We will evaluate these risk factors for their association with BC. Additionally, the risk factors will be synthesized according to the subregions of SSA including East Africa, Central Africa, North Africa, and West Africa in order to establish whether any pattern is formed. These findings will be of paramount importance in helping BC prevention behavior and improving early diagnosis of the disease.
Conclusions:
The proposed systematic review will help to provide insights on the associations of various non-genetic risk factors for breast cancer among women in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Citation
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