Cigarette smoking and the risk of endometrial cancer: a meta-analysis

Objective

Epidemiologic findings are inconsistent concerning the association of endometrial cancer risk with cigarette smoking. We conducted a meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies to examine this relation.

Methods

A systematic literature search up to June of 2007 was performed in MEDLINE and EMBASE. Study-specific risk estimates were pooled using a random-effects model.

Results

Ten prospective and 24 case-control studies were included in the analysis of the effect of ever smoking. Ever smoking was statistically significantly associated with a reduced risk of endometrial cancer among prospective studies (relative risk 0.81; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.74-0.88) and case-control studies (odds ratio 0.72; 95% CI, 0.66-0.79). The inverse association was significant among current and former smokers. Six prospective and 6 case-control studies were included in the quantitative analysis. We noted that an increase in smoking of 20 cigarettes per day was statistically significantly associated with 16% and 27% reduced risks of endometrial cancer in prospective and case-control studies, respectively. We also found that cigarette smoking was significantly associated with a decreased risk of endometrial cancer among postmenopausal women (relative risk 0.71; 95% CI, 0.65-0.78) but not among premenopausal women. In addition, the risk reduction seemed to be stronger among hormone replacement therapy users than nonusers.

Conclusion

Cigarette smoking was found to be significantly associated with a reduced risk of endometrial cancer, especially among postmenopausal women.