Salted Meat Consumption and the Risk of Cancer: a Multisite Case-Control Study in Uruguay

Previous studies have suggested that a high intake of salted meat may increase the risk of esophageal and stomach cancers, but the results are not conclusive. Methods: We used polytomous logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between salted meat intake and the risk of several cancers in a case-control study from Uruguay that was conducted between 1988 and 2005. The study included 13,050 participants (9,252 cases and 3,798 controls) which were drawn from the four major public health hospitals in Montevideo, Uruguay. Results: Salted meat intake was significantly associated with increased odds of cancers of the oesophagus (OR=2.28, 95% CI: 1.75-2.97), colon and rectum (OR=1.53, 95% CI: 1.16-2.03), lung (OR=1.57, 95% CI: 1.26-1.97), cervix uteri (OR=1.76, 95% CI: 1.05-2.25), prostate (OR=1.60, 95% CI: 1.18-2.17), urinary bladder (OR=2.23, 95% CI: 1.63-3.04), kidney (OR=1.62, 95% CI: 1.03-2.54) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (OR=1.81, 95% CI: 1.12-2.95). Conclusion: Our results confirm previous reports of an elevated risk of oesophageal cancer with higher intake of salted meat, but also suggest that salted meat intake may increase the risk of several other cancers.