BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to explore the risk factors and protective factors related to breast cancer onset in women, but there is still a big debate in this respect. Therefore, it is necessary to systematically review the risk factors induced by breast cancer by using meta methods to guide clinical prevention and treatment. METHODS: Studies on factors related to breast cancer onset in Chinese women were retrieved from articles from Chinese, international databases published and organizations and websites, and registers from January 2014 to January 2021. Articles were independently screened, extracted, and evaluated for quality by 2 researchers. The Cochrane Collaboration Center provided Review Manger 5.2 software [Cochrane Information Management System (IMS)] for statistical analysis, and the risk ratio of dichotic variables was adopted. RESULTS: History of benign breast disease [odds ratio (OR) 1.03, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.95-1.12, P=0.42], family history of breast cancer (OR: 2.02, 95% CI: 1.83-2.23, P50 years of age (OR: 1.78, 95% CI: 1.62-1.95, P