Type of alcoholic beverage and risk of head and neck cancer--a pooled analysis within the INHANCE Consortium.
The authors pooled data from 15 case-control studies of head and neck cancer (9,107 cases, 14,219 controls) to investigate the independent associations with consumption of beer, wine, and liquor. In particular, they calculated associations with different measures of beverage consumption separately for subjects who drank beer only (858 cases, 986 controls), for liquor-only drinkers (499 cases, 527 controls), and for wine-only drinkers (1,021 cases, 2,460 controls), with alcohol never drinkers (1,124 cases, 3,487 controls) used as a common reference group. The authors observed similar associations with ethanol-standardized consumption frequency for beer-only drinkers (odds ratios (ORs) = 1.6, 1.9, 2.2, and 5.4 for < or =5, 6-15, 16-30, and >30 drinks per week, respectively; P(trend) < 0.0001) and liquor-only drinkers (ORs = 1.6, 1.5, 2.3, and 3.6; P < 0.0001). Among wine-only drinkers, the odds ratios for moderate levels of consumption frequency approached the null, whereas those for higher consumption levels were comparable to those of drinkers of other beverage types (ORs = 1.1, 1.2, 1.9, and 6.3; P < 0.0001). Study findings suggest that the relative risks of head and neck cancer for beer and liquor are comparable. The authors observed weaker associations with moderate wine consumption, although they cannot rule out confounding from diet and other lifestyle factors as an explanation for this finding. Given the presence of heterogeneity in study-specific results, their findings should be interpreted with caution.
Purdue
Mark P
MP
National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. purduem@mail.nih.gov
Hashibe
Mia
M
Berthiller
Julien
J
La Vecchia
Carlo
C
Dal Maso
Luigino
L
Herrero
Rolando
R
Franceschi
Silvia
S
Castellsague
Xavier
X
Wei
Qingyi
Q
Sturgis
Erich M
EM
Morgenstern
Hal
H
Zhang
Zuo-Feng
ZF
Levi
Fabio
F
Talamini
Renato
R
Smith
Elaine
E
Muscat
Joshua
J
Lazarus
Philip
P
Schwartz
Stephen M
SM
Chen
Chu
C
Neto
Jose Eluf
JE
Wünsch-Filho
Victor
V
Zaridze
David
D
Koifman
Sergio
S
Curado
Maria Paula
MP
Benhamou
Simone
S
Matos
Elena
E
Szeszenia-Dabrowska
Neonilia
N
Olshan
Andrew F
AF
Lence
Juan
J
Menezes
Ana
A
Daudt
Alexander W
AW
Mates
Ioan Nicolae
IN
Pilarska
Agnieszka
A
Fabianova
Eleonora
E
Rudnai
Peter
P
Winn
Debbie
D
Ferro
Gilles
G
Brennan
Paul
P
Boffetta
Paolo
P
Hayes
Richard B
RB
D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001515:Beer / Q000009:adverse effects; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D000431:Ethanol / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D016017:Odds Ratio; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D014920:Wine / Q000009:adverse effects
D000431:Ethanol