Asthma and the risk of lung cancer: a meta-analysis

// Yan-Liang Qu 1, * , Jun Liu 2, * , Li-Xin Zhang 1 , Chun-Min Wu 1 , Ai-Jie Chu 1 , Bao-Lei Wen 1 , Chao Ma 1 , Xu-yan Yan 1 , Xin Zhang 1 , De-Ming Wang 1 , Xin Lv 2 , Shu-Jian Hou 3 1 Department of Anesthesiology, Hospital of PLA, Qingdao 266071, Shandong, China 2 Department of Anesthesiology, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China 3 Department of Hand Surgery, Hospital of PLA, Qingdao 266071, Shandong, China * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Xin Lv, email: xinlvg@126.com Shu-Jian Hou, email: houshujian401@163.com Keywords: asthma, lung cancer, association, meta-analysis Received: October 11, 2016      Accepted: November 18, 2016      Published: January 11, 2017 ABSTRACT Some studies found that there was a significant association between asthma and the risk of lung cancer. However, the results are inconclusive. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis. We searched the electronic databases for all relevant articles. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to calculate the strength of the association between asthma and lung cancer risk. Asthma was significantly associated with the increased risk of lung cancer (OR = 1.44; 95% CI 1.31–1.59; P < 0.00001; I 2 = 83%). Additionally, asthma patients without smoking also had the increased lung cancer risk. In the subgroup analysis of race and gender, Caucasians, Asians, male, and female patients with asthma showed the increased risk of lung cancer. However, asthma was not significantly associated with lung adenocarcinoma risk. In the stratified analysis by asthma definition, significant associations were found between asthma and lung cancer in self-reported subgroup, questionnaire subgroup, and register databases subgroup. However, no significant association was observed in physician-diagnosed asthma subgroup. In conclusion, this meta-analysis suggested that asthma might be significantly associated with lung cancer risk.