Cruciferous vegetables consumption and the risk of ovarian cancer: a meta-analysis of observational studies

BACKGROUND: To quantify the effect of cruciferous vegetable consumption on the incidence of ovarian cancer by meta-analyzing the existing observational studies and provides quantitative and high-level evidence. METHODS: A detailed literature search of Medline and EMBASE for all relevant papers published. A meta-analysis was conducted for the association between cruciferous vegetable consumption and risk of ovarian cancer. RESULTS: A total of 4,306 cases in 375,562 controls in 11 independent studies were identified in this current meta-analysis. The result of this current meta-analysis, including 6 case-control and 5 cohort studies, indicated that cruciferous vegetable intake was associated with a reduced risk of ovarian cancer. Cruciferous vegetable consumption was associated with a reduced risk of ovarian cancer in case-control studies (RR=0.84; 95% CI, 0.75-0.94) but not in cohort studies (RR=1.00; 95% CI, 0.85-1.11). CONCLUSIONS: The results from this meta-analysis of observational studies demonstrate that cruciferous vegetable consumption is a prospective factor of the ovarian cancer. However, more in-depth studies are warranted to report more detailed results, including other specific vegetables within the cruciferous vegetable family. VIRTUAL SLIDES: The virtual slide (s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/1116708293115581.