Alcohol, Alcoholic Beverages and Risk of Esophageal Cancer by Histological Type: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies.

AIMS

We conducted a dose-response meta-analysis to explore the association between alcohol and particular alcoholic beverages with risk of esophageal cancer (EC) by histological type [esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC)] and whether the association differs according to gender.

METHODS

PubMed and Web of Science databases were searched for relevant articles published between January 1960 and December 2019. The pooled relative ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated with the fixed or random effect model. The dose-response relationship was assessed by restricted cubic spline.

RESULTS

A total of 74 published articles involving 31,105 cases among 3,369,024 participants were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled RRs of the highest versus lowest alcohol intake were 3.67 (95% CI, 2.89,4.67) for EC, 5.11 (95% CI, 3.60,7.25) for ESCC and 0.96 (95% CI, 0.79,1.16) for EAC. The above-mentioned associations were observed in cohort design, for different alcoholic beverages (beer, wine and liquor/spirits) and gender. Evidence of a nonlinear dose-response relationship for EC risk with alcohol intake was found (Pnon-linearity < 0.001), and a linear relationship (Pnon-linearity = 0.216) suggested that the risk of ESCC increased by 33% for every 12.5 g/day increment of alcohol intake.

CONCLUSIONS

This meta-analysis suggests that alcohol intake might significantly increase the incidence of EC, especially for ESCC.