The Carcinogenicity of Caffeine and Its Impact on Lung Cancer: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background:

Caffeine is one of the most widely consumed chemical worldwide with its demand increasing over the past decade. The United States is the largest contributor to beverage caffeine intakes with the ever-growing demand for energy drinks and turbo shots to keep us going throughout the day. Several epidemiological studies have been performed analyzing the possible association between lung cancer incidences and caffeine consumption yielding inconsistent and results. We have conducted a systematic meta-analysis of relevant population-based studies pertaining to caffeine consumption and lung cancer to investigate the possible association and provide a definitive answer based on relative data.

Methods:

A systematic meta-analysis was performed using EMBASE, PubMed and The Cochrane library to identify studies published through May 2018 that met the relevant criteria. 25 studies (10 cohort and 15 case-control studies) involving 17, 878 and 156, 717 controls were included.

Results:

The meta-relative risk (RR) for coffee drinking was 1.00 (95% CI 1.00-1.19). The meta-RR for 1 cup per day, was 1.03 (95% CI, 1.03-1.05).

Conclusions:

The pooled values indicated that caffeine consumption coffee does not appear to be a risk factor for lung cancer. Results have showed that the relative risk (RR) was slightly higher for those who regularly consume caffeine daily. This study illustrates that there is no association between caffeine consumption and lung cancer.