Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2014 Jan 27;6(2):504-16.
doi: 10.3390/nu6020504.

Alcohol consumption and risk of glioma: a meta-analysis of 19 observational studies

Zhen-Yu Qi  1 , Chuan Shao  2 , Chao Yang  3 , Zhong Wang  4 , Guo-Zhen Hui  5
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Alcohol consumption and risk of glioma: a meta-analysis of 19 observational studies

Zhen-Yu Qi et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

The relationship between risk of glioma and alcohol consumption has been widely studied, but results have been conflicting. We therefore conducted a meta-analysis of observational studies to systematically assess the relationship between alcohol drinking and risk of glioma. Two electronic databases (PubMed and EMBASE) were searched from inception to 8 August 2013 to identify pertinent studies that linked alcohol drinking with glioma risk. We used a random-effects model to calculate the overall relative risk (RR) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Fifteen case-control and four cohort studies were identified for this analysis. The combined RR for total alcohol drinkers versus non-drinkers was 0.96 (95% CI: 0.89-1.04). In the subgroup analysis by geographic area, a significant association was observed in North American studies (RR = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.65-0.93), but not in European or Asian/Australian studies. In the subgroup analysis by study design, a borderline significant association emerged in population-based case-control studies (RR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.68-0.99), but not in hospital-based case-control studies (RR = 1.00, 95% CI: 0.99-1.01) or cohort group (RR = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.88-1.20). Our results show no material association between alcohol consumption and risk of glioma existed. Further prospective evidences are needed to confirm this association.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of study selection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot for total alcohol drinkers versus non-drinkers.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot for the forest plots for special-types of alcohol drinkers versus non-drinkers.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Funnel plot analysis to detect publication bias.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Schwartzbaum J.A., Fisher J.L., Aldape K.D., Wrensch M. Epidemiology and molecular pathology of glioma. Nat. Clin. Pract. Neurol. 2006;2:494–503. - PubMed
    1. Ohgaki H. Epidemiology of brain tumors. Methods Mol. Biol. 2009;472:323–342. doi: 10.1007/978-1-60327-492-0_14. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Testino G. The burden of cancer attributable to alcohol consumption. Maedica. 2011;6:313–320. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Boffetta P., Hashibe M., La Vecchia C., Zatonski W., Rehm J. The burden of cancer attributable to alcohol drinking. Int. J. Cancer. 2006;119:884–887. doi: 10.1002/ijc.21903. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Boffetta P., Hashibe M. Alcohol and cancer. Lancet Oncol. 2006;7:149–156. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(06)70577-0. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources