Coffee Consumption and Risk of Lung Cancer: A Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies

The association between coffee consumption and lung cancer risk remains inconsistent. To quantitatively assess this association, we conducted a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. We searched PubMed and Web of Science databases along with hand searches for eligible studies published up to July 2023. A total of 26 prospective studies, including 30,305 lung cancer cases and 1,795,158 participants, were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled RR for high vs. low coffee consumption was 1.30 (95% CI: 1.11-1.53) with significant heterogeneity (I² = 72.0%, p < .001). For never smokers, however, the pooled RR was 1.18 (95% CI: 0.999-1.38) with no evidence of heterogeneity (I² = 0.0%, p = .53). By adjustment for body mass index (BMI), there was no significant association between coffee consumption and lung cancer risk in studies that adjusted for BMI (RR = 1.06; 95% CI: 0.87-1.30) (P = .01). Further analysis of studies that adjusted for BMI in never smokers found that coffee consumption was not associated with lung cancer risk. In conclusion, the association of high coffee consumption with lung cancer risk was attenuated when the confounding effects caused by smoking and BMI were controlled. Our results, therefore, imply that coffee consumption does not seem to be a risk factor for lung cancer incidence.