Impact of alcohol consumption on the risk of developing bladder cancer

A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the association of alcohol consumption with the risk of bladder cancer, looking at the results for different types of alcoholic beverages.
A systematic search of Web of Science, Medline/ PubMed and Cochrane library was performed in May 2018. Studies were considered eligible if they assessed the risk of bladder cancer due to alcohol consumption (moderate or heavy dose) and different types of alcoholic beverages (moderate or heavy dose) in multivariable analysis in the general population) or compared with a control group of individuals without BCa.
Sixteen studies were included in the meta-analysis. Moderate and heavy alcohol consumption did not increase the risk of bladder cancer in the entire population. Sub-group and sensitivity analyses revealed that heavy alcohol consumption
significantly increased the risk of bladder cancer in the Japanese population, RR 1.31 (95% CI 1.08- 1.58, P < 0.01) in the multivariable analysis, and in males RR of 1.50 (95% CI 1.18-1.92, P < 0.01), with
no significant statistical heterogeneity. Moreover, heavy consumption of spirits drinks increased the risk of bladder cancer in males, RR 1.42 (95% CI 1.15-1.75, P < 0.01).
The researchers state that in this meta-analysis, moderate and heavy alcohol consumption did not increase the risk of bladder cancer significantly. However, heavy consumption of alcohol might increase the risk of bladder cancer in males and in some specific populations.
Source: Impact of alcohol consumption on the risk of developing bladder cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Vartolomei MD, Iwata T, Roth B, Kimura S, Mathieu R, Ferro M, Shariat SF, Seitz C. World J Urol. 2019 Jun 6.