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Food and health

Coffee consumption and risk of prostate cancer: an up-to-date meta-analysis

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 68, pages 330–337 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Epidemiologic findings concerning the association between coffee consumption and prostate cancer risk yielded mixed results. We aimed to investigate the association by performing a meta-analysis of all available studies.

Subjects/Methods:

We searched PubMed, Web of Science and EMBASE for studies published up to July 2013. We calculated the summary relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for ever, moderate and highest consumption of coffee vs non/lowest consumption. The dose–response relationship was assessed by restricted cubic spline model and multivariate random-effect meta-regression.

Results:

A total of 12 case–control studies and 12 cohort studies with 42 179 cases were selected for final meta-analysis. No significant associations were found among overall analysis. A borderline positive association was found for highest drinkers in five small hospital-based case–control (HCC) studies involving 2278 cases. However, compared with non/lowest drinkers, the summary RRs were 0.92 (95% CI=0.85–0.99) for ever drinkers, 0.92 (95% CI=0.85–1.00) for moderate drinkers and 0.83 (95% CI=0.72–0.96) for highest drinkers from 12 cohort studies, comprising a total of 34 424 cases. An increase in coffee intake of two cups/day was associated with a 7% decreased risk of prostate cancer according to cohort studies. A significant inverse relationship was also found for fatal prostate cancers and high-grade prostate cancers.

Conclusions:

Case–control studies especially HCC ones might be prone to selection bias and recall bias that might have contributed to the conflicting results. Therefore, the present meta-analysis suggests a borderline significant inverse association between coffee consumption and prostate cancer risk based on cohort studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center of Clinical Laboratory Science, Jiangsu Cancer Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China

    S Zhong & J Zhao

  2. The Fourth Clinical College of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China

    W Chen

  3. Department of Hematology (Key Department of Jiangsu Medicine), Zhongda Hospital, Medical School, Southeast University, Nanjing, China

    X Yu

  4. Department of General Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou, China

    Z Chen

  5. Teaching and Research Office of General Surgery, Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou, China

    Q Hu

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Correspondence to J Zhao.

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Zhong, S., Chen, W., Yu, X. et al. Coffee consumption and risk of prostate cancer: an up-to-date meta-analysis. Eur J Clin Nutr 68, 330–337 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2013.256

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