Secretoglobin 1A member 1 (SCGB1A1) + 38A/G polymorphism is associated with asthma risk: A meta-analysis

•We investigated SCGB1A1 + 38A/G polymorphism and asthma risk by meta-analysis.•There was probably an association between this polymorphism and asthma risk.•Well-designed studies based on larger sample size are still needed.

BackgroundEpidemiological studies have evaluated the association between Secretoglobin 1A member 1 (SCGB1A1) + 38A/G polymorphism and asthma, but the results remain inconclusive. The aim of this study was to perform a meta-analysis to investigate a more authentic association between SCGB1A1 + 38A/G polymorphism and asthma.MethodsPublished literature from PubMed, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Embase databases were searched for eligible publications. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using random or fixed-effect model according the between-study heterogeneity.ResultsA total of 19 case-control studies in 18 articles were included in the meta-analysis, including 3191 cases and 5182 controls. We found that SCGB1A1 + 38A/G polymorphism was associated with a significantly increased risk of asthma risk when all studies were pooled in a dominant model (OR = 1.29; 95% CI 1.08–1.54; P = 0.005). The cumulative meta-analysis and sensitivity analysis further strengthened the stability of the result. Furthermore, publication bias was not detected.ConclusionsThis study suggested that SCGB1A1 + 38A/G polymorphism was a risk factor for asthma. Further large and well-designed studies are needed to confirm this association.