The Association between Dietary Inflammatory Potential and Urologic Cancers: A Meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis published in 2018 indicated a significant association between the dietary inflammatory index (DII) and risk of urologic cancers (UC). The number of included studies was limited, and more research has been published on this topic since then. The current study aimed to find a more precise estimate of the association between dietary inflammatory potential and risk of UC by updating the previous meta-analysis. The PubMed and Embase databases were searched between January 2015 and April 2023 to identify eligible articles. Combined relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by random-effects model to assess the association between dietary inflammatory potential and risk of UC by comparison of the highest versus the lowest category of the DII/empirical dietary inflammatory pattern (EDIP) or by using the continuous DII/EDIP score. The analysis, including 23 studies with 557,576 subjects, showed different results for UC. There was a significant association for prostate cancer among case-control studies (RR = 1.75, 95% CI: 1.34-2.28), whereas among cohort studies a null association was found (RR = 1.02, 95% CI: 0.96-1.08). For bladder cancer, a nonsignificant association was observed in both case-control (RR = 1.59, 95% CI: 0.95-2.64) and cohort studies (RR = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.86-1.24). Pooled RR from 3 case-control studies displayed a statistically significant association between the DII and risk of kidney cancer (RR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.03-1.56). Although DII was positively associated with all types of UC, no association was found for EDIP. The present meta-analysis confirmed that an inflammatory diet has a direct effect on the development of prostate cancer and kidney cancer. Large-scale studies are needed to demonstrate the association between dietary inflammatory potential and risk of UC and provide effective nutritional advice for UC prevention. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: The protocol was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD42023391204).

Temporal trends of sex differences for COVID-19 infection, hospitalisation, severe disease, intensive care unit (ICU) admission and death: a meta-analysis of 229 studies covering over 10M patients.

Background: This review aims to investigate the association of sex with the risk of multiple COVID-19 health outcomes, ranging from infection to death. Methods: Pubmed and Embase were searched through September 2020. We considered studies reporting sex and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes. Qualitative and quantitative data were extracted using standardised electronic data extraction forms with the assessment of Newcastle Ottawa Scale for risk of bias. Pooled trends in infection, hospitalization, severity, intensive care unit (ICU) admission and death rate were calculated separately for men and women and subsequently random-effects meta-analyses on relative risks (RR) for sex was performed. Results: Of 10,160 titles, 229 studies comprising 10,417,452 patients were included in the analyses. Methodological quality of the included studies was high (6.9 out of 9). Men had a higher risk for infection with COVID-19 than women (RR = 1.14, 95%CI: 1.07 to 1.21). When infected, they also had a higher risk for hospitalization (RR = 1.33, 95%CI: 1.27 to 1.41), higher risk for severe COVID-19 (RR = 1.22, 95%CI: 1.17 to 1.27), higher need for Intensive Care (RR = 1.41, 95%CI: 1.28 to 1.55), and higher risk of death (RR = 1.35, 95%CI: 1.28 to 1.43). Within the period studied, the RR for infection and severity increased for men compared to women, while the RR for mortality decreased for men compared to women. Conclusions: Meta-analyses on 229 studies comprising over 10 million patients showed that men have a higher risk for COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, disease severity, ICU admission and death. The relative risks of infection, disease severity and death for men versus women showed temporal trends with lower relative risks for infection and severity of disease and higher relative risk for death at the beginning of the pandemic compared to the end of our inclusion period. PROSPERO registration: CRD42020180085 (20/04/2020).

Tea consumption and risk of bladder cancer in the Bladder Cancer Epidemiology and Nutritional Determinants (BLEND) Study: Pooled analysis of 12 international cohort studies.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Tea has been shown to be associated with reduced risk of several diseases including cardiovascular diseases, stroke, metabolic syndrome, and obesity. However, the results on the relationship between tea consumption and bladder cancer are conflicting. This research aimed to assess the association between tea consumption and risk of bladder cancer using a pooled analysis of prospective cohort data. METHODS: Individual data from 532,949 participants in 12 cohort studies, were pooled for analyses. Cox regression models stratified by study centre was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and corresponding 95% CIs. Fractional polynomial regression models were used to examine the dose-response relationship. RESULTS: A higher level of tea consumption was associated with lower risk of bladder cancer incidence (compared with no tea consumption: HR = 0.87, 95% C.I. = 0.77-0.98 for low consumption; HR = 0.86, 95% C.I. = 0.77-0.96 for moderate consumption; HR = 0.84, 95% C.I. = 0.75-0.95 for high consumption). When stratified by sex and smoking status, this reduced risk was statistically significant among men and current and former smokers. In addition, dose-response analyses showed a lower bladder cancer risk with increment of 100 ml of tea consumption per day (HR-increment = 0.97; 95% CI = 0.96-0.98). A similar inverse association was found among males, current and former smokers while never smokers and females showed non-significant results, suggesting potential sex-dependent effect. CONCLUSIONS: Higher consumption of tea is associated with reduced risk of bladder cancer with potential interaction with sex and smoking status. Further studies are needed to clarify the mechanisms for a protective effect of tea (e.g. inhibition of the survival and proliferation of cancer cells and anti-inflammatory mechanisms) and its interaction with smoking and sex.