Dietary acrylamide and the risk of endometrial cancer : an Italian case-control study

The role of dietary acrylamide on the risk of hormone-related, and specifically endometrial, cancers is debated. Epidemiological data are scanty. Thus, we examined the relation between acrylamide intake and endometrial cancer risk in a case-control study conducted between 1992 and 2006 in 3 Italian areas. Cases were 454 women with incident, histologically confirmed endometrial cancer. Controls were 908 age-matched women admitted to the same network of hospitals of cases for acute, non-neoplastic conditions. We calculated multivariate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using logistic regression models. The OR of endometrial cancer for increasing quintiles of dietary acrylamide, as compared to the lowest one, were 1.02 (95% CI: 0.67–1.54), 1.20 (95% CI: 0.80–1.80), 1.00 (95% CI: 0.65–1.54) and 1.17 (95% CI: 0.73–1.85). The OR for an increase of 10 μg/day of dietary acrylamide was 1.00 (95% CI: 0.91–1.10). In subgroup analyses, the ORs for high vs. low acrylamide intake were 1.28 (95% CI: 0.73–2.25) in never smokers and 1.14 (95% CI: 0.45–2.90) in ever smokers. Our data do not support an association between dietary acrylamide intake and endometrial cancer.