Lifetime consumption of alcoholic beverages and risk of 13 types of cancer in men: results from a case-control study in Montreal.
BACKGROUND
The aim of the study was to investigate the association between lifetime consumption of alcoholic beverages and cancer risk.


METHODS
Data were collected in a population-based case-control study, conducted in Montreal in the mid-1980s, designed to assess the associations between hundreds of non-occupational and occupational exposures and multiple cancer sites in men. We present results for 13 cancer sites: oesophagus (n = 78), stomach (n = 215), colon (n = 427), rectum (n = 239), liver (n = 28), pancreas (n = 83), lung (n = 700), melanoma (n = 107), prostate (n = 374), bladder (n = 425), kidney (n = 156), Hodgkin's lymphoma (n = 42), and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (n = 190), in comparison to population controls (n = 507). Odds ratios (OR) were estimated for the associations between lifetime consumption of total alcoholic beverages, beer, wine, and/or spirits, altogether and separately, and each cancer site, while carefully adjusting for smoking and other covariates using polytomous logistic regression.


RESULTS
For several cancers (oesophagus, stomach, colon, liver, pancreas, lung, prostate) there was evidence of increased risk among alcohol consumers compared with abstainers and occasional drinkers. For most sites, it was beer and to a lesser extent spirits consumption that drove the excess risks.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results support the hypothesis that moderate and high alcohol intake levels over the lifetime might increase cancer risk at several sites.
Benedetti
Andrea
A
Department of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. andrea.benedetti@mcgill.ca
Parent
Marie-Elise
ME
Siemiatycki
Jack
J
D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001515:Beer; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011792:Quebec / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014920:Wine