| Disease | A METAL-ANALYSIS OF THE PUBLISHED LITERATURE TO DETERMINE IF COFFEE CONSUMPTION IS RELATED TO A LOWER RISK OF COLON CANCER. THE COMBINED RESULTS FROM 12 CASE-CONTROL STUDIES SHOWED AN INVERSE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN COFFEE CONSUMPTION AND RISK OF
COLORECTAL CANCER (POOLED RELATIVE RISK (ESTIMATED BY ODDS RATIO) FOR HIGH VS. LOW CATEGORY OF COFFEE CONSUMPTION (RR)=0.72, 95% CONFIDENCE INTERVAL (CL) 0.61-0.84); THE FINDINGS WERE SIMILAR IN POPULATION-BASED AND HOSPITAL-BASED CASE-CONTROL
STUDIES. FIVE COHORT STUDIES DID NOT SUPPORT AN ASSOCIATION (POOLED RR = 0.97, 95% CL 0.73-1.29). THE COMBINED RESULTS OF ALL STUDIES WERE DRIVEN LARGELY BY THE CASE-CONTROL STUDIES, WHICH COMPRISED 85 PERCENT OF THE CASES (RR = 0.76, 95% CL 0.6
-0.89). THE LOWER RISK OF COLORECTAL CANCER AMONG SUBSTANTIAL COFFEE DRINKERS WAS OBSERVED IN STUDIES FROM ASIA, NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN EUROPE, AND NORTH AMERICA. THE RESULTS OF THIS META-ANALYSIA INDICATE A LOWER RISK OF COLORECTAL CANCER
ASSOCIATED WITH SUBSTANTIAL CONSUMPTION OF COFFEE, BUT THEY ARE INCONCLUSIVE BECAUSE OF INCONSISTENCIES BETWEEN CASE-CONROL AND PROSPECTIVE STUDIES, THE LACK OF CONTROL OF IMPORTANT COVARIATES IN MANY OF THE STUDIES, AND THE POSSIBILITY THAT
INDIVIDUALS AT HIGH RISK OF COLORECTAL CANCER AVOID COFFEE CONSUMPTION. SEVERAL ONGOING PROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDIES, BASED ON EXTENSIVE DIETARY QUESTIONNARIES MAY PROVIDE IMPORTANT NEW DATA TO EVALUATE THIS HYPOTHESIS. |