Folate Intake and Risk of Pancreatic Cancer: Pooled Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies

• Published in: JNCI : Journal of the National Cancer Institute Vol. 103; no. 24; pp. 1840 - 1850
• Main Authors: Bao, Ying, Michaud, Dominique S., Spiegelman, Donna, Albanes, Demetrius, Anderson, Kristin E., Bernstein, Leslie, van den Brandt, Piet A., English, Dallas R., Freudenheim, Jo L., Fuchs, Charles S., Giles, Graham G., Giovannucci, Edward, Goldbohm, R. Alexandra, Håkansson, Niclas, Horn-Ross, Pamela L., Jacobs, Eric J., Kitahara, Cari M., Marshall, James R., Miller, Anthony B., Robien, Kim, Rohan, Thomas E., Schatzkin, Arthur, Stevens, Victoria L., Stolzenberg-Solomon, Rachael Z., Virtamo, Jarmo, Wolk, Alicja, Ziegler, Regina G., Smith-Warner, Stephanie A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cary, NC Oxford University Press 21.12.2011; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Cancer; Cohort Studies; Confounding Factors (Epidemiology); Diets; Epidemiology; Feeding Behavior; Female; Folic acid; Folic Acid - administration & dosage; Folic Acid - pharmacology; Follow-Up Studies; Gastroenterology. Liver. Pancreas. Abdomen; Humans; Liver. Biliary tract. Portal circulation. Exocrine pancreas; Male; Medical sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Multivariate Analysis; Odds Ratio; Pancreatic cancer; Pancreatic Neoplasms - prevention & control; Proportional Hazards Models; Prospective Studies; Reviews; Risk; Risk Assessment; Surveys and Questionnaires; Tumors; Vitamin B; United States; North America; America; Human; Nutrition; Supplemented diet; Malignant tumor; Epidemiology; Folate; Feeding; Prospective; Cancerology; Cohort study; Pancreas cancer; Risk factor; Digestive diseases; Public health; Cancer; Pancreatic disease; Food supplement
• ISSN: 0027-8874; 1460-2105; 1460-2105
• DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djr431

Background Epidemiological studies evaluating the association between folate intake and risk of pancreatic cancer have produced inconsistent results. The statistical power to examine this association has been limited in previous studies partly because of small sample size and limited range of folate intake in some studies. Methods We analyzed primary data from 14 prospective cohort studies that included 319 716 men and 542 948 women to assess the association between folate intake and risk of pancreatic cancer. Folate intake was assessed through a validated food-frequency questionnaire at baseline in each study. Study-specific relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models and then pooled using a random effects model. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results During 7-20 years of follow-up across studies, 2195 pancreatic cancers were identified. No association was observed between folate intake and risk of pancreatic cancer in men and women (highest vs lowest quintile: dietary folate intake, pooled multivariable RR = 1.06, 95% CI = 0.90 to 1.25, P trend = .47; total folate intake [dietary folate and supplemental folic acid], pooled multivariable RR = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.80 to 1.16, P trend = .90). No between-study heterogeneity was observed (for dietary folate, P heterogeneity = .15; for total folate, P heterogeneity = .22). Conclusion Folate intake was not associated with overall risk of pancreatic cancer in this large pooled analysis.