Effects of Vitamin and Antioxidant Supplements in Prevention of Bladder Cancer: a Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

• Published in: Journal of Korean medical science Vol. 32; no. 4; pp. 628 - 635
• Main Authors: Park, So Jung, Myung, Seung Kwon, Lee, Yunju, Lee, Yong Jae
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences 01-04-2017; 대한의학회
• Subjects: Antioxidants - therapeutic use; beta Carotene - therapeutic use; Databases, Factual; Dietary Supplements; Humans; Original; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Risk; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms - pathology; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms - prevention & control; Vitamins - therapeutic use; 의학일반; Meta-Analysis; Bladder Cancer; Randomized Controlled Trials; Antioxidant; Vitamin
• ISSN: 1011-8934; 1598-6357
• DOI: 10.3346/jkms.2017.32.4.628

This study aimed to investigate the effects of vitamin and antioxidant supplements in the prevention of bladder cancer using a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Fourteen RCTs were included in the final analysis. In a fixed-effect meta-analysis, vitamin and antioxidant supplements showed no preventive effect for bladder cancer (relative risk [RR] = 1.04; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.92-1.17; I² = 39.7%). Also, there was no preventive effect of these supplements in the subgroup meta-analyses by various factors such as type of supplements, type of cancer prevention, methodological quality, providers of supplements, type of control group, and number of participants. Among the subgroup analyses by type of supplements, beta-carotene supplementation alone marginally increased the risk of bladder cancer (RR = 1.44; 95% CI 1.00-2.09; I² = 0.0%; n = 3). The current meta-analysis found that vitamin and antioxidant supplements have no preventive effect against bladder cancer.