Abstract
Background: Alcohol is capable of traversing the blood-brain barrier and is thus a possible risk factor for brain cancer. Several epidemiological studies have been published on the issue, a number of those during recent years, with inconsistent findings. Materials and methods: We performed a systematic literature search in the Medline and EMBASE databases. We found a total of 19 studies providing risk estimates for total alcohol or specific alcoholic beverages. Pooled estimates of the relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using random-effects models. Results: The pooled RR of brain cancer for alcohol drinkers versus non-drinkers was 0.97 (95% CI 0.82-1.15; based on 12 studies). Moderate (<2 drinks/day) and heavy alcohol drinkers had RRs of 1.01 (95% CI 0.81-1.25) and 1.35 (95% CI 0.85-2.15), respectively. With reference to specific alcoholic beverages, the RRs were 1.01 (95% CI 0.70-1.48) for wine, 0.96 (95% CI 0.82-1.12) for beer, and 1.20 (95% CI 1.01-1.42) for spirit consumption. The RRs for drinkers versus non-drinkers were 0.93 (95% CI 0.81-1.07) for glioma and 0.71 (95% CI 0.45-1.12) for meningioma. Conclusions: Alcohol drinking does not appear to be associated with adult brain cancer, though a potential effect of high doses deserves further study.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 514-523 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Annals of Oncology |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 2013 |
Keywords
- Alcohol drinking
- Brain neoplasms
- Glioma
- Meningioma
- Meta-analysis
- Risk factor