Brief Article
Copyright ©2011 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Mar 7, 2011; 17(9): 1204-1210
Published online Mar 7, 2011. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v17.i9.1204
Coffee drinking and pancreatic cancer risk: A meta-analysis of cohort studies
Jie Dong, Jian Zou, Xiao-Feng Yu
Jie Dong, Jian Zou, Xiao-Feng Yu, Department of Gastroenterology, Huadong Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
Author contributions: Dong J and Zou J contributed equally to this work; Zou J designed the research; Dong J, Yu XF and Zou J performed the research and analyzed the data; Dong J and Zou J wrote the paper.
Correspondence to: Dr. Jian Zou, Department of Gastroenterology, Huadong Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China. apollozou@hotmail.com
Telephone: +86-21-62483180 Fax: +86-21-32140503
Received: October 13, 2010
Revised: December 16, 2010
Accepted: December 23, 2010
Published online: March 7, 2011
Abstract

AIM: To quantitatively assess the relationship between coffee consumption and incidence of pancreatic cancer in a meta-analysis of cohort studies.

METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Science Citation Index Expanded and bibliographies of retrieved articles. Studies were included if they reported relative risks (RRs) and corresponding 95% CIs of pancreatic cancer with respect to frequency of coffee intake. We performed random-effects meta-analyses and meta-regressions of study-specific incremental estimates to determine the risk of pancreatic cancer associated with a 1 cup/d increment in coffee consumption.

RESULTS: Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria, which included 671 080 individuals (1496 cancer events) with an average follow-up of 14.9 years. Compared with individuals who did not drink or seldom drank coffee per day, the pooled RR of pancreatic cancer was 0.82 (95% CI: 0.69-0.95) for regular coffee drinkers, 0.86 (0.76-0.96) for low to moderate coffee drinkers, and 0.68 (0.51-0.84) for high drinkers. In subgroup analyses, we noted that, coffee drinking was associated with a reduced risk of pancreatic cancer in men, while this association was not seen in women. These associations were also similar in studies from North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.

CONCLUSION: Findings from this meta-analysis suggest that there is an inverse relationship between coffee drinking and risk of pancreatic cancer.

Keywords: Coffee; Cohort study; Meta-analysis; Pancreatic neoplasm