Fish consumption and risk of prostate cancer or its mortality: an updated systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies

Niloofar Eshaghian; Neda Heidarzadeh-Esfahani; Hakimeh Akbari; Gholamreza Askari; Omid Sadeghi

doi:10.3389/fnut.2023.1221029

Fish consumption and risk of prostate cancer or its mortality: an updated systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies

Front Nutr. 2023 Aug 1:10:1221029. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1221029. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Niloofar Eshaghian¹, Neda Heidarzadeh-Esfahani², Hakimeh Akbari³, Gholamreza Askari⁴, Omid Sadeghi⁴

Affiliations

¹ Student Research Committee, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
² Department of Nutritional Science, School of Nutritional Science and Food Technology, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
³ Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Gerash University of Medical Sciences, Gerash, Iran.
⁴ Nutrition and Food Security Research Center and Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Science, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.

Abstract

Since the release of the last meta-analysis on the association between fish intake and prostate cancer risk, several cohort studies have been published. Moreover, none of the previous meta-analyzes examined the dose-response association between fish intake and prostate cancer. Therefore, the current dose-response meta-analysis was conducted to summarize available findings on the associations of fish intake with the risk of prostate cancer in men. Online databases of PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were systematically searched up to September 2022. We included prospective cohort studies that examined the associations of fish intake with the risk of prostate cancer (total, localized, and advanced prostate cancer), its mortality, and cancer progression. Summary relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for the highest versus lowest categories of fish intake using random-effects models. Also, linear and non-linear dose-response analyzes were conducted. In total, 25 prospective cohort studies, recruiting 1,216,474 men, were included in the systematic review, and 22 studies were included in the meta-analysis. During the follow-up periods, ranging from 6 to 33 years, a total of 44,722 cases of prostate cancer were recorded. The comparison between the highest and lowest intakes of total fish revealed the summary RRs of 0.97 (95% CI: 0.86-1.10) for total, 1.01 (95% CI: 0.91-1.13) for advanced, and 0.90 (95% CI: 0.72-1.12) for localized prostate cancer, indicating no significant association. Moreover, the summary RR was 0.55 (95% CI: 0.33-0.92) for prostate cancer mortality and 0.84 (95% CI: 0.65-1.10) for prostate cancer progression, indicating an inverse association between fish intake and prostate cancer mortality. Also, in the dose-response analyzes, each 20 gram/day increase in total fish intake was associated with a 12% lower risk of prostate cancer mortality. Our findings support the protective association between total fish intake and the risk of prostate cancer mortality.

Keywords: dose–response; fish; meta-analysis; mortality; prostate cancer.

Publication types

Review