Serum uric acid and cancer mortality and incidence: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Frances Dovell, Paolo Boffetta

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Elevated serum uric acid (SUA) is a marker of chronic inflammation and has been suggested to be associated with increased risk of cancer, but its antioxidant capacity would justify an anticancer effect. Previous meta-analyses did not include all available results. We conducted a systematic review of prospective studies on SUA level and risk of all cancers and specific cancers, a conducted a meta-analysis based on random-effects models for high versus low SUA level as well as for an increase in 1 mg/dl SUA. The relative risk of all cancers for high versus low SUA level was 1.11 (95% confidence interval: 0.94-1.27; 11 risk estimates); that for a mg/dl increase in SUA level was 1.03 (95% confidence interval: 0.99-1.07). Similar results were obtained for lung cancer (six risk estimates) and colon cancer (four risk estimates). Results for other cancers were sparse. Elevated SUA levels appear to be associated with a modest increase in overall cancer risk, although the combined risk estimate did not reach the formal level of statistical significance. Results for specific cancers were limited and mainly negative.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)399-405
Number of pages7
JournalEuropean Journal of Cancer Prevention
Volume27
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2018

Keywords

  • cancer risk
  • epidemiology
  • meta-analysis
  • serum uric acid

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