Coffee consumption and risk of gastric cancer: an updated meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to perform an updated review to evaluate the effect of coffee consumption on the risk of gastric cancer.

METHODS: We searched the PubMed and Embase database up to October 14th, 2013. Risk ratio (RR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the risk of gastric cancer were used as effect sizes. Overall effect sizes were derived using a fixed-effects model or a random-effects model when appropriate. Then in subgroup analyses, the data were reanalyzed, which were stratified by gender, area and follow-up time.

RESULTS: A total of 8 separate studies, including 312,993 volunteers (among them 1429 were diagnosed with gastric cancer in 10-18 years' follow-up), were considered in the meta-analysis. The overall estimate of coffee consumption on the risk of gastric cancer showed a pooled RR of 1.24 (95% CI: 1.03-1.49; P=0.026). In subgroup analyses, the pooled RR of gastric cancer was 1.36 (95% CI: 1.06-1.75) for USA volunteers and 1.29 (95% CI: 1.05-1.59) for people with more than 15-year follow-up time. The sensitivity analysis proved the stability and credibility of our results, and there was no significant bias (Begg's test P=0.640, Egger's test P=0.600) among the studies.

CONCLUSIONS: It indicated that coffee consumption was associated with the development of gastric cancer. More coffee drinking could result in the increased risk of gastric cancer.