Red meat consumption, risk of incidence of cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular mortality, and the dose–response effect: Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort studies

Red and (particularly) processed meats are high in cholesterol and saturated and solid fatty acids. Their consumption is considered one of the risk factors for metabolic disorders. Numerous studies demonstrated a possible association between red meat consumption and cardiovascular disease (CVD). In this protocol, we propose a systematic review of the literature to examine the associations of red meat consumption with CVD incidence and mortality, and explore the potential dose-response relationship. We will search MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, SciELO, LILACS, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Cochrane (CENTRAL), WHOLIS, PAHO, and Embase. We will include prospective epidemiological studies (longitudinal cohort). Risk of bias will be assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS). Four independent researchers will conduct all evaluations. Disagreements will be referred to a fifth reviewer. We will summarize our findings using a narrative approach and tables to describe the characteristics of the included studies. The heterogeneity between trial results will be evaluated using a standard chi-squared test with P