scholarly journals Occupational Exposure to Talc Increases the Risk of Lung Cancer: A Meta-Analysis of Occupational Cohort Studies

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Che-Jui Chang ◽  
Yu-Kang Tu ◽  
Pau-Chung Chen ◽  
Hsiao-Yu Yang

Objective. Talc is widely used in industrial applications. Previous meta-analyses of carcinogenic effects associated with inhaled talc included publications before 2004, with a lack of data in China, the largest talc-producing country. The safety of workers exposed to talc was unclear due to limited evidence. The objective of this study was to reevaluate the association between inhaled talc and lung cancer. Setting, Participants, and Outcome Measures. A meta-analysis was performed to calculate the meta-SMR of lung cancer. We searched the MEDLINE, EMBASE, CNKI, and Wanfang Data databases through March 2017. Data from observational studies were pooled using meta-analysis with random effects models. Results. Fourteen observational cohort studies (13 publications) were located via literature search. The heterogeneity of the included data was high (I-squared = 72.9%). Pooling all the cohorts yielded a meta-SMR of 1.45 (95% CI: 1.22–1.72, p<0.0001) for lung cancer among the study subjects exposed to talc. Subgroup analysis for asbestos contamination showed no significant difference in lung cancer death between subjects exposed to talc with and without asbestos (p=0.8680), indicating that this confounding factor may have no significance. Conclusions. This study provides evidence that nonasbestiform talc might still increase the risk of lung cancer. Further epidemiological studies are required to evaluate the safety of workers with occupational talc exposure.

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Zare Jeddi ◽  
Rozita Soltanmohammadi ◽  
Giulia Barbieri ◽  
Aline S. C. Fabricio ◽  
Gisella Pitter ◽  
...  

Abstract Exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), ubiquitous persistent environmental contaminants, has led to substantial global concern due to their potential environmental and human health effects. Several epidemiological studies have assessed the possible association between PFAS exposure and risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS), however, the results are ambiguous. The aim of this study was to assess the current human epidemiologic evidence on the association between exposure to PFAS and MetS. We performed a systematic search strategy using three electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) for relevant studies concerning the associations of PFAS with MetS and its clinical relevance from inception until January 2021. We undertook meta-analyses where there were five or more studies with exposure and outcomes assessments that were reasonably comparable. The pooled odd ratios (ORs) were calculated using random effects models and heterogeneity among studies was assessed by I2 index and Q test. A total of 12 cross-sectional studies (10 studies on the general population and two studies in the occupational settings) investigated the association between PFAS exposure and MetS. We pooled data from seven studies on the general population for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and five studies for perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS) and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA). Predominately, most studies reported no statistically significant association between concentrations of PFAS and MetS. In the meta-analysis, the overall measure of effect was not statistically significant, showing no evidence of an association between concentrations of PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, and PFHxS and the risk of MetS. Based on the results of the meta-analysis, current small body of evidence does not support association between PFAS and MetS. However, due to limited number of studies and substantial heterogeneity, results should be interpreted with caution. Further scrutinizing cohort studies are needed to evaluate the association between various and less well-known PFAS substances and their mixture with MetS and its components in both adults and children in different settings.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoya Ohno ◽  
Dagfinn Aune ◽  
Alicia K. Heath

Abstract Several studies have investigated associations between overweight/obesity and risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, however, the evidence is not entirely consistent, and previous meta-analyses mainly included case–control studies, which can be affected by various biases. We therefore conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies on adiposity and risk of rheumatoid arthritis. Relevant studies were identified by searching PubMed and Embase databases. Random effects models were used to estimate summary relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for rheumatoid arthritis in relation to different measures of adiposity. Thirteen cohort studies (10 publications) were included. The summary RR per 5 kg/m2 increase in body mass index (BMI) was 1.11 (95% CI 1.05–1.18, I2 = 50%), but the association was restricted to women (1.15, 95% CI 1.08–1.21, I2 = 17%) and not observed in men (0.89, 95% CI 0.73–1.09, I2 = 58%). The summary RR per 5 kg/m2 increment in BMI at age 18 years was 1.17 (95% CI 1.01–1.36, I2 = 26%, n = 3), and per 10 cm increase in waist circumference was 1.13 (95% CI 1.02–1.25, I2 = 44%, n = 2). Higher BMI in middle age, BMI at age 18 years, and waist circumference were associated with increased rheumatoid arthritis risk, suggesting adiposity could be targeted for primary prevention.


2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 1429-1438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheng-Yu Wang ◽  
Zhen-Min Han ◽  
Qi-Fei Liu ◽  
Wei Tang ◽  
Kui Ye ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTBackground:The etiology and pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders has yet to be elucidated, so their differential diagnosis is a challenge. This is especially true in differentiating Alzheimer's disease (AD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), Parkinson disease (PD), and multiple system atrophy (MSA).Methods:A total of 11 eligible articles were identified by search of electronic databases including PubMed, Springer Link, Elsevier, and the Cochrane Library, up to June 2014. In meta-analyses, standardized mean differences (SMD), with 95% confidence intervals (CI), comparing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) measures of α-synuclein between the above conditions were calculated using random-effects models.Results:CSF α-synuclein concentrations were significantly higher in AD compared to DLB [SMD: 0.32, 95% CI: (0.02, 0.62), z = 2.07, P = 0.038]; PD [SMD: 0.87, 95% CI: (0.15, 1.58), z = 2.38, P = 0.017]; or MSA [SMD: 1.14, 95% CI: (0.15, 2.14), z = 2.25, P = 0.025]. However, no significant difference was found between patients with AD and neurological cognitively normal controls [SMD: 0.02, 95% CI: (−0.21, 0.24), z = 0.13, P = 0.894].Conclusions:Results of these meta-analysis suggest that quantification of CSF α-synuclein could help distinguish AD from other neurodegenerative disorders such as DLB, PD, or MSA.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Qiao ◽  
Deliang Ma ◽  
Hui Lv ◽  
Ding Shi ◽  
Min Fei ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been related to the pathogenesis of variety categories of cancers. This meta-analysis aimed to determine the association between MetS and the incidence of lung cancer. Methods Relevant cohort studies were identified by search of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane’s Library databases. Cochrane’s Q test and I2 statistic were used to analyze the heterogeneity. Random-effect model which incorporates the potential heterogeneity was used for the meta-analysis. Results Five cohort studies with 188,970 participants were included. A total of 1,295 lung cancer cases occurred during follow-up. Meta-analyses showed that neither MetS defined by the revised NCEP-ATP III criteria (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.94, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.84 to 1.05, p = 0.25; I2 = 0) nor the IDF criteria (HR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.61 to 1.11, p = 0.20; I2 = 0) was associated with an affected risk of lung cancer. Subgroup analyses showed consistent results in women and in men, in studies performed in Asian and non-Asian countries, and in prospective and retrospective cohorts (p all > 0.05). Meta-analysis limited to studies with the adjustment of smoking status also showed similar results (HR: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.80 to 1.05, p = 0.21; I2 = 0). No publication bias was detected based on the Egger regression test (p = 0.32). Conclusions Current evidence from cohort studies does not support that MetS is an independent risk factor for the incidence of lung cancer.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-50
Author(s):  
Alfred Jatho ◽  
Jansen Marcos Cambia ◽  
Seung-Kwon Myung ◽  

Abstract Objective: There remain inconclusive findings from previous observational epidemiological studies on whether consumption of artificially-sweetened soft drinks (ASSDs) increases the risk of gastrointestinal (GI) cancer. We investigated the associations between the consumption of ASSDs and the risk of GI cancer using a meta-analysis. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Setting: PubMed and EMBASE were searched using keywords until May 2020 to identify observational epidemiological studies on the association between the consumption of ASSDs and the risk of GI cancer. Subjects: Twenty-one case-control studies and 17 cohort studies with 12,397 cancer cases and 2,474,452 controls. Results: In the random-effects meta-analysis of all the studies, consumption of ASSDs was not significantly associated with the risk of overall GI cancer (odds ratio (OR)/relative risk (RR), 1.02; 95% CI, 0.92-1.14). There was no significant association between the consumption of ASSDs and the risk of overall GI cancer in the subgroup meta-analyses by study design (case-control studies: OR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.82-1.11; cohort studies: RR, 1.14; 95% CI, 0.97-1.33). In the subgroup meta-analysis by type of cancer, consumption of ASSDs was significantly associated with the increased risk of liver cancer (OR/RR, 1.28; 95% CI,1.03-1.58). Conclusions: The current meta-analysis of observational epidemiological studies suggests that overall, there is no significant association between the consumption of ASSDs and the risk of GI cancer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Luo ◽  
Dandan Ke ◽  
Qingwei He

Objective: Several epidemiological studies have linked tomato products consumption with prostate cancer risk; however, the findings yielded inconsistent results. The aim of the present meta-analysis is to summary the evidence on this association based on eligible cohort studies.Materials and Methods: A comprehensive literature search of articles was performed in March 2021 using PubMed, ISI Web of Science, and Scopus databases. A random-effects model was used to calculate the combined relative risks (RRs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Heterogeneity across studies was assessed using Cochran's Q statistic and the I2 score.Results: A total of 10 prospective studies were finally included in our meta-analysis. There was no evidence of a significant association between tomato products consumption and prostate cancer risk (RR 0.91, 95% CI 0.79–1.03, P = 0.138). Subgroup meta-analyses were performed by tomato types, geographical region, publication year, study quality and number of cases. No significant associations were observed in any subgroups (all P &gt; 0.05). No significant publication bias was observed using Begg's test (P = 0.602) or Egger's test (P = 0.957).Conclusion: The results of this meta-analysis indicated that tomato consumption was not related with the risk of prostate cancer. Further prospective large-scale cohort studies are still warranted to verify our findings.


Open Medicine ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 1228-1239
Author(s):  
Yunfei Gao ◽  
Abulaiti Abulimiti ◽  
Dan He ◽  
Anpeng Ran ◽  
Dongbo Luo

Abstract Objective To compare the perioperative parameters between single- and triple-port video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy in the treatment of lung cancer. Methods The Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane library, and the Web of Science databases were electronically searched from inception to September 2019 for all relevant studies. Study quality was evaluated using the Jadad scale or the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. The results were pooled using the generic inverse-variance method and expressed as mean differences or risk ratios, with 95% confidence intervals. Results Three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and ten cohort studies with 2,278 subjects were included in the meta-analysis. Whether based on RCTs or cohort studies, the pooled results showed no significant difference in the operation time, chest tube duration, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative hospital stays, lymph node dissection number, postoperative drainage volume, and postoperative complications between single- and triple-port VATS lobectomy (P > 0.05). Single-port VATS could relieve postoperative pain better than triple-port VATS, especially in the first day and fifth day (P < 0.05). No evidence of significant publication bias was found (P > 0.05). Conclusion Single-port VATS lobectomy can yield similar perioperative results to those of triple-port VATS lobectomy and is more effective in relieving postoperative pain.


Author(s):  
Ka Young Kim ◽  
Eunil Lee ◽  
Yanghee Kim

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an environmental chemical that has adverse effects on health, probably causing childhood obesity. However, this association remains controversial, and it is difficult to find evidence for direct causality between environmental exposure and disease using epidemiological studies. In this study, we sought to elucidate the possible causality between BPA exposure and childhood obesity by conducting two meta-analyses showing bidirectional associations, including exposure effect by obesity and obesity risk by exposure. Articles published up to September 2017 were searched in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library. We evaluated observational studies that included measurements of urinary BPA concentration and BMI or body weight. Of 436 articles, a total of 13 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Two meta-analyses were performed to investigate the association between BPA exposure and childhood obesity. The results showed that the relatively high-exposed group had a significantly higher risk of childhood obesity than the relatively low-exposed group (odds ratio = 1.566, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.097 to 2.234, p = 0.014). However, the obese group showed no significant difference in the BPA concentration when compared to the normal group (standardized mean difference = 0.166, 95% CI: −0.121 to 0.453, p = 0.257). This study suggested possible causality between BPA exposure and childhood obesity using data from epidemiological studies and showed that BPA exposure itself increased the risk of obesity in children.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lijuan Wang ◽  
Rongqi Zhang ◽  
Lili Yu ◽  
Jiarui Xiao ◽  
Xuan Zhou ◽  
...  

BackgroundWhether aspirin use can decrease or increase cancer risk remains controversial. In this study, a meta-analysis of cohort studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were conducted to evaluate the effect of aspirin use on common cancer risk.MethodMedline and Embase databases were searched to identify relevant studies. Meta-analyses of cohort studies and RCTs were performed to assess the effect of aspirin use on the risk of colorectal, gastric, breast, prostate and lung cancer. Cochran Q test and the I square metric were calculated to detect potential heterogeneity among studies. Subgroup meta-analyses according to exposure categories (frequency and duration) and timing of aspirin use (whether aspirin was used before and after cancer diagnosis) were also performed. A dose-response analysis was carried out to evaluate and quantify the association between aspirin dose and cancer risk.ResultsA total of 88 cohort studies and seven RCTs were included in the final analysis. Meta-analyses of cohort studies revealed that regular aspirin use reduced the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) (RR=0.85, 95%CI: 0.78-0.92), gastric cancer (RR=0.67, 95%CI: 0.52-0.87), breast cancer (RR=0.93, 95%CI: 0.87-0.99) and prostate cancer (RR=0.92, 95%CI: 0.86-0.98), but showed no association with lung cancer risk. Additionally, meta-analyses of RCTs showed that aspirin use had a protective effect on CRC risk (OR=0.74, 95%CI: 0.56-0.97). When combining evidence from meta-analyses of cohorts and RCTs, consistent evidence was found for the protective effect of aspirin use on CRC risk. Subgroup analysis showed that high frequency aspirin use was associated with increased lung cancer risk (RR=1.05, 95%CI: 1.01-1.09). Dose-response analysis revealed that high-dose aspirin use may increase prostate cancer risk.ConclusionsThis study provides evidence for low-dose aspirin use for the prevention of CRC, but not other common cancers. High frequency or high dose use of aspirin should be prescribed with caution because of their associations with increased lung and prostate cancer risk, respectively. Further studies are warranted to validate these findings and to find the minimum effective dose required for cancer prevention.


2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 589-597
Author(s):  
BGS Casado ◽  
EP Pellizzer ◽  
JR Souto Maior ◽  
CAA Lemos ◽  
BCE Vasconcelos ◽  
...  

Clinical Relevance The use of laser light during bleaching will not reduce the incidence or severity of sensitivity and will not increase the degree of color change compared with nonlaser light sources. SUMMARY Objective: To evaluate whether the use of laser during in-office bleaching promotes a reduction in dental sensitivity after bleaching compared with other light sources. Methods: The present review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) and is registered with PROSPERO (CDR42018096591). Searches were conducted in the PubMed/Medline, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases for relevant articles published up to August 2018. Only randomized clinical trials among adults that compared the use of laser during in-office whitening and other light sources were considered eligible. Results: After analysis of the texts retrieved during the database search, six articles met the eligibility criteria and were selected for the present review. For the outcome dental sensitivity, no significant difference was found favoring any type of light either for intensity (mean difference [MD]: −1.60; confidence interval [CI]: −3.42 to 0.22; p=0.09) or incidence (MD: 1.00; CI: 0.755 to 1.33; p=1.00). Regarding change in tooth color, no significant differences were found between the use of the laser and other light sources (MD: −2.22; CI: −6.36 to 1.93; p=0.29). Conclusions: Within the limitations of the present study, laser exerts no influence on tooth sensitivity compared with other light sources when used during in-office bleaching. The included studies demonstrated that laser use during in-office bleaching may have no influence on tooth color change.


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