Postoperative Health-related Quality of Life in Reduction Mammaplasty: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

[BACKGROUND] Breast hypertrophy is a chronic health problem. Until now, reduction mammaplasty is still a critical treatment for this disease. Given the publications, which reviewed the relationship between operation and quality of life, based on nonrandomized controlled studies and how low their quality are. Thus, we aimed to assess the effectiveness of reduction mammaplasty in improving health-related quality of life based on high-quality randomized-controlled trials.

[METHOD] A systematic search of the following databases: PubMed (MEDLINE), the Cochrane Library, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, EMBASE, ClinicalTrials.gov, BIOSIS previews, and GreyNet. All the English publications have been searched without any restrictions of time, countries, or article type. Studies examining the effects of breast reduction versus control group on postoperative quality of life were included. Data on studies, patient characteristics, outcome measures were extracted. Statistical analysis was performed using Review Manager 5.3.

[RESULTS] In all, 7 randomized-controlled trials involving 285 participants were included, in which 4 studies were pooled in the meta-analysis. Because of the effect of reduction mammaplasty, statistically significant improvements were found on pain (standardised mean difference [SMD], -1.29; 95% confidence interval [CI], -1.63 to -0.96; P < 0.00001), physical function (SMD, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.69-1.25; P < 0.00001) and psychological function (SMD, -0.79; 95% CI, -1.07 to -0.52; P < 0.00001).

[CONCLUSIONS] Our findings based on the randomized-controlled trials suggest that the quality of life of women undergoing breast reduction surgery is significantly improved. Reduction mammaplasty is an effective treatment for symptomatic breast hypertrophy.