Exposure to acrylamide and human cancer--a review and meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies.
BACKGROUND
Acrylamide has been associated to cancer risk in rodents, but data on humans are inconclusive. We thus carried out a critical review and meta-analysis of studies of exposure to acrylamide and cancer.


METHODS
We identified 586 publications, 25 presented relevant results. We conducted meta-analyses of studies of dietary intake based on random-effects models by calculating pooled relative risks (RR) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI). We combined results of occupational studies according to a fixed-effect model.


RESULTS
The summary RRs for an increase of 10 μg/day of acrylamide intake were close to unity for all the cancers considered, ranging from 0.98 for esophageal cancer to 1.01 for colon, endometrial, ovarian and kidney cancer. None of the estimates was significant. Exclusion of one case-control study from Sweden resulted in a summary RR of kidney cancer of 1.04 (95% CI 1.00-1.08). The combined standardized mortality ratios for high occupational exposure were 1.67 (95% CI 0.83-2.99) for pancreatic cancer and 2.22 (95% CI 0.81-4.84) for kidney cancer.


CONCLUSIONS
Available studies consistently suggest a lack of an increased risk of most types of cancer from exposure to acrylamide. The main association that requires further monitoring involves kidney cancer.
Department of Epidemiology, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, Milan.
C
C
Pelucchi
Department of Epidemiology, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, Milan; Section of Medical Statistics, Department of Occupational Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy; International Prevention Research Institute, Lyon, France.
C
C
La Vecchia
Department of Epidemiology, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, Milan.
C
C
Bosetti
International Prevention Research Institute, Lyon, France.
P
P
Boyle
International Prevention Research Institute, Lyon, France; The Tisch Cancer Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA. Electronic address: paolo.boffetta@i-pri.org.
P
P
Boffetta
D020106:Acrylamide / Q000506:poisoning*; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D006801:Humans; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*
D020106:Acrylamide