Tea consumption, alcohol drinking and physical activity associations with breast cancer risk among Chinese females: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate associations between tea consumption, alcohol drinking and physical activity and breast cancer risk among Chinese females.


METHODS
Three English databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect and Wiley) and three Chinese databases (CNKI, WanFang and VIP) were independently searched by 2 reviewers up to December 2012, complemented by manual searches. The quality of included studies was assessed with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale items. Random-effects models were used to estimate the pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Potential publication bias was estimated through Egger's and Begg's tests. Heterogeneity between studies was evaluated with I2 statistics.


RESULTS
Thirty-nine studies involving 13,204 breast cancer cases and 87,248 controls were identified. Compared with non-drinkers, regular tea drinkers had decreased risk (OR=0.79, 95%CIs: 0.65-0.95; I2=84.9%; N=16). An inverse association was also found between regular physical activity and breast cancer risk (OR=0.73, 95%CIs: 0.63-0.85; I2=77.3%; N=15). However, there was no significant association between alcohol drinking and breast cancer risk (OR=0.85, 95%CIs: 0.72- 1.02; I2=63.8%; N=26). Most of the results from the subgroup analysis were consistent with the main results.


CONCLUSIONS
Tea consumption and physical activity are significantly associated with a decreased risk of breast cancer in Chinese females. However, alcohol drinking may not be associated with any elevation of risk.
Department of Social Medicine and Health Service Management, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China E-mail : chenkexin1963@yahoo.com, wyg@tijmu.edu.cn.
Ying
Y
Gao
Yu-Bei
YB
Huang
Xue-Ou
XO
Liu
Chuan
C
Chen
Hong-Ji
HJ
Dai
Feng-Ju
FJ
Song
Jing
J
Wang
Ke-Xin
KX
Chen
Yao-Gang
YG
Wang
D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D044466:Asian People; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013662:Tea
D013662:Tea