Abstract

ZHIHUI, Wu; WEIHUA, Yan; ZUPEI, Wu  and  JINLIN, Huang. Fish consumption and risk of breast cancer: meta-analysis of 27 observational studies. Nutr. Hosp. [online]. 2016, vol.33, n.3, pp.703-712. ISSN 1699-5198.  https://dx.doi.org/10.20960/nh.282.

Objectives: The association between fish consumption and the risk of breast cancer has not been established yet. Results from epidemiological studies are inconsistent. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine the association between fish consumption and the risk of breast cancer. Methods: We identified eligible studies in Medline and EMBASE up to February 2015 and the reference lists of original studies and review articles on this topic. Summary relative risks with their 95% confidence intervals were calculated with a random-effects model. Results: We identified 27 studies eligible for analysis. The summary relative risk of breast cancer for the highest consumption of fish compared with the lowest was 0.96 (95% CI = 0.87-1.07), with evidence of heterogeneity (Q = 69.09, p < 0.001, I² = 68.0%). Four studies investigated lean fish consumption and revealed that there was a small increase in the risk of breast cancer (summary RR = 1.09, 95% CI = 1.00-1.19). As only four studies were included in the subgroup analysis, results must be interpreted with caution. Conclusions: The overall current literature on fish consumption and the risk of breast cancer suggested no association. Further well-designed prospective studies are needed to explore fish consumption in relation to breast cancer risk.

Keywords : Breast cancer; Fish consumption; Systematic review; Meta-analysis; Relative risks.

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