title: Alcohol drinking and all cancer mortality: a meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Epidemiological studies have suggested an inconsistent relationship between alcohol drinking and risk of all cancer mortality. As far as we know, no meta-analysis has been conducted to explore this issue.
  
  
  METHODS
  We carried out a PubMed search to find relevant articles published before April 2012 in English. Categorical and dose-response meta-analyses were conducted to identify the impact of alcohol drinking on all cancer mortality. Potential sources of heterogeneity were detected by meta-regression and stratification analyses. Sensitivity and cumulative meta-analyses were also carried out.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighteen independent cohort studies met the inclusion criteria. Compared with non/occasional drinkers, the pooled relative risks (RRs) were 0.91 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.89-0.94] for light, 1.02 (95% CI 0.99-1.06) for moderate, and 1.31 (95% CI 1.23-1.39) for heavy drinkers. Former drinkers presented a higher risk (RR = 1.32, 95% CI 1.15-1.50) than current drinkers (RR = 1.06, 95% CI 0.98-1.16). There was a J-shaped relationship between all cancer mortality and alcohol consumption in males but not in females.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This meta-analysis confirms the health hazards of heavy drinking (≥50 g/day) and benefits of light drinking (≤12.5 g/day). Large-sample, well-designed, prospective epidemiological studies, especially on heavy drinking among women, should be developed in future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors