Processed meat consumption and squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus in a large case-control study in Uruguay.

Eduardo De Stefani,Hugo Deneo-Pellegrini,Alvaro Luis Ronco,Pelayo Correa,Paolo Boffetta,Maria Mendilaharsu,Gisele Acosta

doi:10.7314/apjcp.2014.15.14.5829

Eduardo De Stefani, Hugo Deneo-Pellegrini + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.7314/apjcp.2014.15.14.5829

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Abstract

The role of processed meat in the aetiology of squamous cell oesophageal cancer has been explored in detail. In the time period 1990-2005, a case-control study was conducted in Montevideo, Uruguay including 2,368 participants (876 cases of oesophageal cancer and 1,492 controls). Relative risks, approximated by the odds ratios, were estimated by multiple unconditional logistic regression. Processed meat was positively associated with oesophageal cancer (upper quartile vs lower quartile OR 2.30, 95%CI 1.72-3.07), whereas salted meat intake was positively associated with squamous cell oesophageal cancer (OR 3.82, 95%CI 2.74-5.33). Finally other cured meats were positively associated with oesophageal cancer (OR 1.65, 95%CI 1.22- 2.22). It could be concluded that processed meat consumption could be an important risk factor for the aetiology of squamous cell oesophageal cancer in Uruguay.

Highlights

Oesophageal cancer is a frequent malignancy in Uruguay, mainly in the northeastern counties, in the border with Brazil (Barrios et al, 2010)
Processed meat was positively associated with oesophageal cancer, whereas salted meat intake was positively associated with squamous cell oesophageal cancer
AMultivariate adjusted for age, sex, residence, education, tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, mate consumption, total energy, total vegetable and fruit intake, and red meat consumption; bMultivariate adjusted for age, sex, residence, education, tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, mate consumption, total energy, total vegetable and fruit intake, red meat consumption, and other cured meats, cMultivariate adjusted for age, sex, residence, education, tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, mate consumption, total energy, total vegetable and fruit intake, red meat consumption, and salted meat intake, dBacon, sausage, mortadella, salami, saucisson, frankfurter, and ham

Summary

Introduction

Oesophageal cancer is a frequent malignancy in Uruguay, mainly in the northeastern counties, in the border with Brazil (Barrios et al, 2010). The main reasons of this high incidence are unknown, the incidence is declining, reflecting the declination of squamous cell oesophageal cancer, which is the main histologic type in Uruguay (Devesa et al, 1998) This declination of squamous cell oesophageal cancer could be correlated with the decrease of the use of hand-rolled cigarettes filled with black tobacco (De Stefani et al, 1994). The role of mate consumption in oesophageal cancer has been replicated in a recent pooled study (Lubin et al, 2013) For are all these reasons, we decided to conduct a large case-control study with the objective of studying in detail the role of processed meat consumption in the aetiology of squamous cell oesophageal carcinoma

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