The consumption of coffee and black tea and the risk of lung cancer

Abstract

Purpose Coffee and black tea are among the most consumed beverages worldwide. While their potential role in lung cancer occurrence has been investigated in several studies, results have been inconclusive. We investigated the associations between intake of coffee and black tea with lung cancer in a population-based case-control study in Montreal, Canada. Methods These analyses included 1,130 cases and 1,483 controls. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) were estimated between four metrics of coffee and black tea consumption (frequency, average daily amount, duration, and cumulative amount) and lung cancer, using unconditional logistic regression. Results The adjusted ORs (95% confidence intervals) for lung cancer comparing daily to never consumers were 0.73 (0.49-1.10) for coffee and 1.05 (0.85-1.31) for black tea. Analyses of other metrics did not reveal any clear patterns of increasing or decreasing risk with increasing amounts or duration of consumption. There was no strong evidence of OR modification by sex or smoking level. The OR estimates did not materially differ by histological subtype for either of the beverages. Conclusion Our results do not provide strong support for associations between consumption of coffee and black tea and lung cancer.