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Abstract
This meta-analysis aimed to examine the association between alcohol consumption and multiple myeloma (MM) risk. Eligible publications were sought in PubMed to 31 December 2013. Separate analyses were performed by study design, gender, alcoholic beverages and levels of consumption. Sixteen case–control studies (3921 cases and 19 594 controls) and 10 cohort studies (3167 incident cases in total cohort of 2 557 649 subjects) were eligible. Ever consumption of alcohol was associated with reduced MM risk (pooled relative risk [RR] = 0.88, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.79–0.99) and especially consumption of wine correlated with reduced MM risk (pooled RR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.67–0.89 for ever drinkers). MM risk was not affected by beer or liquor intake. A protective association was observed among females (pooled RR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.69–0.89 for ever drinkers), whereas the association among males seemed null. In conclusion, contrary to most solid tumors, alcohol intake may confer protection in terms of MM risk among females, with wine being particularly beneficial.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the authors of individual studies who contributed their additional data and analyses, as detailed in the relevant section.
We are extremely thankful to and acknowledge the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), for the grant named “Identifying the role of nutrition, physical activity and body size in hematological malignancies through systematic reviews and meta-analyses” funded by Wereld Kanker Onderzoek Fonds (WCRF NL) and administered by WCRF International as part of the WCRF International program.
Potential conflict of interest
Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at www.informahealthcare.com/lal.