Investigating the Relationship between Exposure to Cadmium and the Risk of Pancreatic Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Exposure to cadmium is associated with the occurrence of pancreatic cancer. In a situation where the results of previous studies are not consistent, this study, using a systematic review and meta-analysis method investigated the relationship between exposure to cadmium and the risk of pancreatic cancer in order to provide an appropriate conclusion in this regard.

By searching the ISI web of science, Cochrane, Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar databases and using the keywords (Cadmium, Pancreatic Cancer) and their synonyms, 391 articles were retrieved and considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria, finally 8 articles were included in the present study. Data analysis was done using Stata 15 software. The significance level was considered 0.05.

In this systematic review and meta-analysis study, it was observed that compared to the group without exposure/exposure to the lowest dose of cadmium, the risk of pancreatic cancer in people exposed/exposure to the highest dose of cadmium is equal to 1.62 (95% CI: 1.18-2.21; P ≤ 0.001), this relationship was statistically significant. According to the results of Egger's test (P = 0.100) and Begg's test (P = 0.076); in this study, publication bias was not observed.

According to the results of this Review research, exposure to cadmium leads to a 62% increase in the risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Therefore, it can be said that exposure to cadmium is a risk factor for developing pancreatic cancer and health policies should be aimed at reducing exposure to Cadmium goes forward.