Objective: To elucidate the association between cigarette smoking and the susceptibility of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Materials and methods: We searched relevant articles from PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane by 1st December, 2018. This meta-analysis included 20 case-control studies, involving 7,538 AML patients and 137,924 healthy controls. Studies reported OR and 95%CI of the correlation between cigarette smoking and AML susceptibility were eligible. Subsequently, the included data were weighted by an inverse variance and analyzed using fixed-effects or random-effects model. Subgroup analysis was conducted based on ethnicities and sources of controls. Heterogeneity test was applied for the included articles. Data analyses were conducted using STATA 12.0.
Results: Current smokers (OR=1.42, 95%CI= 1.28-1.57; p=0.392) and ever-smokers (OR=1.16, 95%CI=1.05-1.28; p=0.036) were associated with AML susceptibility. In the subgroup analysis by ethnicity, only current smokers (OR=1.45, 95%CI=1.29-1.63; p=0.371) and ever-smokers (OR=1.16, 95%CI=1.03-1.30; p=0.034) of the Caucasian population were associated with AML susceptibility. Stratified analysis based on SOC (source of controls) indicated increased susceptibility of AML in current smokers (OR=1.43, 95%CI=1.26-1.63; p=0.283) and ever-smokers (OR=1.20, 95%CI=1.07-1.35; p=0.078) of the population-based group. Nevertheless, only current smokers in the hospital-based group had increased susceptibility of AML (OR=1.45, 95%CI=1.19-1.76; p=0.198). The risks of AML in ever-smokers (OR=1.04, 95%CI = 0.81-1.35; p=0.054) of the hospital-based group did not remarkably changed.
Conclusions: In this meta-analysis, we confirmed the association between cigarette smoking and onset risk of AML, especially in the Caucasian population. High-quality, large-scale researches are required to be conducted in multi-center hospitals for verification.