Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 19, 2026

Demonstrating a Linear Relationship Between Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Luteinizing Hormone in Kidney Cortex Extracts
Published on: January 22, 2020
Oral contraceptive use and kidney cancer risk among women: evidence from a meta-analysis
Huan Liu1, Xing-Chun Wang1, Guang-Hui Hu2
1Department of Urology, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital Tongji University, Shanghai, China ; Department of First Clinical Medical College, Nanjing Medical University Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Abstract:
Previous studies have investigated the relationship between oral contraceptives (OCs) use and kidney cancer risk. However, they yielded inconsistent results. To our knowledge, a comprehensive assessment of the association between OC and kidney cancer risk has not been reported. Hence, we conducted a meta-analysis to quantify the association. We identified all relevant studies up to July 2014 through a literature search of using PubMed and EMBASE, and by reviewing the references from the retrieved articles. Fixed-effect and random-effect models were used to estimate summary relative risks (SRRs) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A total of 12 studies were eligible and included in this meta-analysis, involving 4,206 kidney cancer cases and 638,677 participants. The SRR of kidney cancer for ever versus never OC use was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.82-0.98). The protection became stronger when compared the longest duration of OC use with never use (RR = 0.80; 95% CI: 0.68-0.94). In dose-response analysis, we found that the kidney cancer risk decreased by 2% for per 1 year increment in OC use (RR = 0.98; 95% CI: 0.96-0.99). No apparent heterogeneity was observed across studies included in this analysis. Egger's and Begg's test also indicated no publication bias. The present study suggested that OC may reduce the risk of kidney cancer, especially for long-term users. More well-conducted and large-scale prospective studies are warranted to confirm the effects of OC use on kidney cancer.
Related Concept Videos
Drug Dosing in Renal Diseases: Estimation of Glomerular Filtration Rate Based on Serum Creatinine Concentration
Drug Dosing in Renal Diseases: Measurement of Serum Creatinine Concentration and Clearance
Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches
Non-controlled studies, commonly employed for initial exploration, lack a control group, rendering them susceptible to biases and external influences. In contrast,...
Urinary Tract Calculi IV: Nutrition Therapy and Prevention
Drug Dosing in Renal Diseases: Dose Adjustments Based on Drug Clearance and Elimination Rate Constant
Kidney Transplant I: Introduction
