History of cholelithiasis and cancer risk in a network of case-control studies.
BACKGROUND
We analyzed the relationship between cholelithiasis and cancer risk in a network of case-control studies conducted in Italy and Switzerland in 1982-2009.


METHODS
The analyses included 1997 oropharyngeal, 917 esophageal, 999 gastric, 23 small intestinal, 3726 colorectal, 684 liver, 688 pancreatic, 1240 laryngeal, 6447 breast, 1458 endometrial, 2002 ovarian, 1582 prostate, 1125 renal cell, 741 bladder cancers, and 21 284 controls. The odds ratios (ORs) were estimated by multiple logistic regression models.


RESULTS
The ORs for subjects with history of cholelithiasis compared with those without were significantly elevated for small intestinal (OR=3.96), prostate (OR=1.36), and kidney cancers (OR=1.57). These positive associations were observed ≥10 years after diagnosis of cholelithiasis and were consistent across strata of age, sex, and body mass index. No relation was found with the other selected cancers. A meta-analysis including this and three other studies on the relation of cholelithiasis with small intestinal cancer gave a pooled relative risk of 2.35 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.82-3.03].


CONCLUSIONS
In subjects with cholelithiasis, we showed an appreciably increased risk of small intestinal cancer and suggested a moderate increased risk of prostate and kidney cancers. We found no material association with the other cancers considered.
Department of Epidemiology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", Milan. Electronic address: alessandra.tavani@marionegri.it.
A
A
Tavani
Department of Epidemiology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", Milan.
V
V
Rosato
Department of Epidemiology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", Milan.
F
F
Di Palma
Department of Epidemiology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", Milan.
C
C
Bosetti
Unit of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, Aviano.
R
R
Talamini
Unit of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, Aviano; Department of Occupational Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
L
L
Dal Maso
Unit of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, Aviano.
A
A
Zucchetto
Cancer Epidemiology Unit and Registre Vaudois des Tumeurs, Institut universitaire de médecine sociale et préventive, Lausanne, Switzerland.
F
F
Levi
Unit of Epidemiology, Istituto Tumori "Fondazione Pascale", Naples, Italy.
M
M
Montella
Department of Epidemiology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", Milan.
E
E
Negri
International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon.
S
S
Franceschi
Department of Epidemiology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", Milan; Department of Occupational Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy; International Prevention Research Institute, Lyon, France.
C
C
La Vecchia
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002769:Cholelithiasis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology