Alcohol and risk of lung cancer among Japanese men: data from a large-scale population-based cohort study, the JPHC study.
OBJECTIVE
Although large-scale studies, including meta-analyses, on the association between alcohol consumption and lung cancer have been reported, the risk of lung cancer in extremely high consumption groups (>or=450 g ethanol/week) in both current smokers and nonsmokers remains unclear. Here, we investigated the association between alcohol consumption and lung cancer incidence.


METHODS
We conducted a population-based prospective cohort study in 46,347 Japanese men aged 40-69 years with no history of cancer at baseline in 1990-1994. We used Cox proportional hazards regression analysis to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of lung cancer incidence according to alcohol consumption.


RESULTS
During the 14-year follow-up period, we documented 651 cases of lung cancer. We found a positive association between alcohol consumption and lung cancer risk confined to current smokers. Compared with occasional drinkers, the multivariate HRs (95% CI) in the highest category (>or=450 g ethanol/week) were 1.31 (0.89-1.94) among total participants, 0.58 (0.26-1.30) (p for trend = 0.49) among nonsmokers, and 1.69 (1.05-2.72) (p for trend = 0.02) among current smokers.


CONCLUSIONS
Among this population with a large variation in alcohol consumption, alcohol consumption was not an independent risk factor for lung cancer except for current smokers.
Shimazu
Taichi
T
Epidemiology and Prevention Division, Research Center for Cancer Prevention and Screening, National Cancer Center, Tokyo, Japan. tshimazu@gan2.res.ncc.go.jp
Inoue
Manami
M
Sasazuki
Shizuka
S
Iwasaki
Motoki
M
Kurahashi
Norie
N
Yamaji
Taiki
T
Tsugane
Shoichiro
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors