Association between tea and coffee consumption and risk of laryngeal cancer: a meta-analysis

Objective: Epidemiological studies evaluating the association of tea and coffee consumption and the risk of laryngeal cancer have produced inconsistent results. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis to assess the relationship between tea and coffee consumption and laryngeal cancer risk. Methods: Pertinent studies were identified by a search in PubMed, Web of Knowledge and Wan Fang Med Online. The random effect model was used based on heterogeneity test. Publication bias was estimated using Egger's regression asymmetry test. As a result, 11 articles were included in this meta-analysis. Results: For tea consumption and laryngeal cancer, data from 8 studies including 2167 laryngeal cancer cases were used, and the pooled results suggested that highest tea consumption versus lowest level wasn't associated with the risk of laryngeal cancer [summary RR = 0.909, 95% CI = 0.674-1.227]. Eight studies comprising 2596 laryngeal cancer cases for coffee consumption and laryngeal cancer risk were included, and no association was found (summary RR = 1.218, 95% CI = 0.915-1.622). Conclusions: Finding from this meta-analysis suggested that tea and coffee consumption weren't associated with the risk of laryngeal cancer. Since the potential biases and confounders could not be ruled out completely in this meta-analysis, further studies are warranted to confirm this result.