Coffee and cancer risk: A meta-analysis of prospective observational studies

Meta-analyses on coffee and cancer incidence mainly restricted to limited cancers. We carried out a more comprehensive meta-analysis of cohort studies to explore association between coffee and most cancer types. We conducted comprehensive search and summarized relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals for the highest versus lowest coffee intake and cancer using STATA12. We conducted dose-analysis if result suggested significant association. The publication bias was evaluated with begg’s and egger’s test. Finally, 105 individual prospective studies were included. Inverse associations were observed on oral, pharyngeal, colon, liver, prostate, endometrial cancer and melanoma, with RR 0.69 (95% CI = 0.48–0.99, I 2 = 73.4%, P = 0.044), 0.87 (95% CI = 0.78–0.96, I 2 = 28.4%, P = 0.007), 0.46 (95% CI = 0.37–0.57, I 2 = 0%, P = 0), 0.89 (95% CI = 0.84–0.93, I 2 = 30.3%, P = 0.003), 0.73 (95% CI = 0.67–0.80, I 2 = 0%, P = 0) and 0.89 (95% CI = 0.80–0.99, I 2 = 0%, P = 0.031) respectively. However, the relative risk for lung cancer is 2.18 (95% CI = 1.26–3.75, I 2 = 63.3%, P = 0.005). The summary relative risk for increment of 2 cups of coffee were RR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.67–0.79 for liver cancer, RR = 0.97, 95% CI = 0.96–0.98 for prostate cancer and RR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.85–0.92 for endometrial cancer. Accordingly, coffee intake was associated with reduced risk of oral, pharynx, liver, colon, prostate, endometrial cancer and melanoma and increased lung cancer risk.