Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 28, 2021; 27(48): 8374-8377
Published online Dec 28, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i48.8374
Use of oral contraceptives and risk of pancreatic cancer in women: A recalculated meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies
Jong-Myon Bae
Jong-Myon Bae, Preventive Medicine, Jeju National University College of Medicine, Jeju-si 63243, Jeju Province, South Korea
Author contributions: Bae JM designed and performed the study, analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflict of interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jong-Myon Bae, MD, PhD, Professor, Preventive Medicine, Jeju National University College of Medicine, No. 102 Jejudaehak-ro, Jeju-si 63243, Jeju Province, South Korea. jmbae@jejunu.ac.kr
Received: July 29, 2021
Peer-review started: July 29, 2021
First decision: October 16, 2021
Revised: October 25, 2021
Accepted: December 16, 2021
Article in press: December 16, 2021
Published online: December 28, 2021
Abstract

In a recent systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies, the author found potential errors in the selection and extraction processes. The recalculated summary relative risks and the results of a dose-response meta-analysis showed that oral contraceptive use may not be associated with the risk of pancreatic cancer in women.

Keywords: Pancreas neoplasms, Oral contraceptives, Risk factor, Meta-analysis, Risk assessment, Systematic review

Core Tip: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies conducted recently concluded that oral contraceptive use was associated with a decreased risk of pancreatic cancer in women. However, the author found potential errors in the selection and extraction processes. The recalculated summary relative risks and the results of a dose-response meta-analysis showed that oral contraceptive use may not be associated with the risk of pancreatic cancer in women. As this conclusion contradicted that reported recently, it is necessary to re-evaluate the direction and statistical significance of this risk through an updated meta-analysis in the future.