BLADDER-CANCER AND COFFEE-DRINKING - A SUMMARY OF CASE-CONTROL RESEARCH

An association between coffee drinking and cancer of the lower urinary tract (LUT) was first suggested 20 years ago and has been the subject of many epidemiological studies. We have undertaken a critical review and statistical summary of 35 case-control studies of this associatio n published between 1971 and 1992. Predefined methodological criteria were applied to the available reports. Studies were classified as eith er meeting the criteria (core studies) or failing to satisfy at least one of the requirements for design or analysis (non-core studies). The summarised data from the 8 core studies showed no evidence of an incr ease in risk of LUT cancer with coffee drinking in men or women after adjustment for the effects of cigarette smoking (odds ratio 1.07 [95% CI 1.00-1.14] for men, 0.91 [0.81-1.03] for women). The measures of as sociation from the non-core studies were higher on average than those from the core studies, although the inclusion of these data in an over all summarised estimate did not substantially change the findings from the core analysis. We conclude that the best available data do not su ggest a clinically important association between the regular use of co ffee and development of cancer of the LUT in men or women.