title: Alcohol consumption and mortality in the Korean Multi-Center Cancer Cohort Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the association between alcohol consumption habit, types of beverages, alcohol consumption quantity, and overall and cancer-specific mortality among Korean adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  The alcohol consumption information of a total of 16 320 participants who were 20 years or older from the Korean Multi-center Cancer Cohort were analyzed to examine the association between alcohol consumption habit and mortality (median follow-up of 9.3 years). The Cox proportional hazard model was used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) of alcohol consumption to mortality adjusting for age, sex, geographic areas, education, smoking status, and body mass index.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Alcohol drinkers showed an increased risk for total mortality compared with never drinkers (HR, 1.72; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.38 to 2.14 for past drinkers; HR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.06 to 1.39 for current drinkers), while past drinkers only were associated with higher risk for cancer deaths (HR, 1.84; 95% CI, 1.34 to 2.53). The quantity of alcohol consumed per week showed a J-shaped association with risk of mortality. Relative to light drinkers (0.01 to 90 g/wk), never drinkers and heavy drinkers (>504 g/wk) had an increased risk for all-cause and cancer deaths: (HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 0.96 to 1.45) and (HR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.05 to 1.83) for all-cause mortality; and (HR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.15 to 2.11) and (HR, 2.07; 95% CI, 1.39 to 3.09) for all cancer mortality, respectively. Heavy drinkers (>504 g/wk) showed an elevated risk for death from stomach and liver cancers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study supports the existence of a J-shaped association between alcohol consumption quantity and the risk of all-cause and cancer deaths. Heavy drinkers had an increased risk of death from cancer overall and liver and stomach cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: En-Joo
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Aesun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Sue K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Seung-Hyun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: In-Seong
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Boyoung
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Eun-Ha
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Soung-Hoon
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Hai-Rim
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Daehee
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Keun-Young
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Yoo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Alcohol drinking; Korea; Korean Multi-center Cancer Cohort; Mortality