Tea consumption and risk of bladder and kidney cancers in a population-based case-control study

Recent epidemiologic studies have suggested that tea may be protective against cancers of the urinary tract. The authors examined the association between usual adult tea consumption and risk of bladder and kidney cancers in a population-based case-control study that included 1,452 bladder cancer cases, 406 kidney cancer cases, and 2,434 controls. For bladder cancer, the age- and sex-adjusted odds ratios (OR) (95% confidence intervals (CI)) referent to nonusers of tea were 0.9 (0.7, 1.1) for <1.0 cup/day, 1.0 (0.8, 1.2) for 1.0-2.6 cups/day, and 0.9 (0.7, 1.1) for >2.6 cups/day (cutpoints for users based on the tertile distribution among controls). When more extreme cutpoints were used, persons who consumed >5 cups/day (>90th percentile) had a suggestive decreased risk (OR = 0.7; 95% CI 0.5, 1.0), but there was no evidence of a dose-response relation. In analyses stratified by median total beverage intake (2.6 liters/day), there was an inverse association with tea use among persons who consumed less than the median (OR = 0.5; 95% CI 0.3, 0.8) but no association for persons who consumed at or above the median. In contrast, for kidney cancer, there was no association with tea use. Adjustment for site-specific risk factors did not alter these results. This study offers only minimal support for an inverse association between tea consumption and bladder or kidney cancer risk.