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Vitamin E intake from natural sources and head and neck cancer risk: a pooled analysis in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology consortium.

By: V Edefonti, M Hashibe, M Parpinel, M Ferraroni, F Turati, D Serraino, K Matsuo, A F Olshan, J P Zevallos, D M Winn, K Moysich, Z-F Zhang, H Morgenstern, F Levi, K Kelsey, M McClean, C Bosetti, S Schantz, G-P Yu, P Boffetta, S-C Chuang, Y-C A Lee, C La Vecchia, A Decarli

Laboratorio di Statistica Medica, Biometria ed Epidemiologia 'G. A. Maccacaro', Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche e di Comunità, Università degli Studi di Milano, via A. Vanzetti, 5, 20133 Milano, Italy.
2014-12-19; doi: 10.1038/bjc.2015.149

Abstract

Background

Evidence for the possible effect of vitamin E on head and neck cancers (HNCs) is limited.

Methods

We used individual-level pooled data from 10 case-control studies (5959 cases and 12 248 controls) participating in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium to assess the association between vitamin E intake from natural sources and cancer of the oral cavity/pharynx and larynx. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using unconditional logistic regression models applied to quintile categories of nonalcohol energy-adjusted vitamin E intake.

Results

Intake of vitamin E was inversely related to oral/pharyngeal cancer (OR for the fifth vs the first quintile category=0.59, 95% CI: 0.49-0.71; P for trend <0.001) and to laryngeal cancer (OR=0.67, 95% CI: 0.54-0.83, P for trend <0.001). There was, however, appreciable heterogeneity of the estimated effect across studies for oral/pharyngeal cancer. Inverse associations were generally observed for the anatomical subsites of oral and pharyngeal cancer and within covariate strata for both sites.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that greater vitamin E intake from foods may lower HNC risk, although we were not able to explain the heterogeneity observed across studies or rule out certain sources of bias.British Journal of Cancer advance online publication, 19 May 2015; doi:10.1038/bjc.2015.149 www.bjcancer.com.

PMID:25989276