Lifetime alcohol consumption and upper aero-digestive tract cancer risk in the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study.
OBJECTIVE
Cohort studies have rarely examined the association between upper aero-digestive tract (UADT) cancer risk and lifetime alcohol intake. We examined the associations between incident squamous cell carcinoma of the UADT (oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, and esophagus) and alcohol intake for different periods in life using data from the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study.


METHODS
Usual alcohol intake for 10-year periods from age 20 was calculated using recalled frequency and quantity of beverage-specific consumption. Cox regression with age as the time axis was performed to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) for the associations of UADT cancer with alcohol intake for different periods in life compared with abstention.


RESULTS
During a mean follow-up of 16.2 person-years, 98 incident cases of UADT cancer were identified. We observed a dose-dependent association between lifetime alcohol intake and the risk of UADT cancer (multivariable-adjusted HR 2.67, 95 % CI 1.27-5.60 for an intake of ≥40 g/day and multivariable-adjusted HR 1.16, 95 % CI 1.06-1.28 for a 10 g/day increment in intake). A positive association with baseline alcohol intake (multivariable-adjusted HR 1.12, 95 % CI 1.02-1.24 for a 10 g/day increment in intake) was found to be a slightly weaker predictor of risk than lifetime intake.


CONCLUSIONS
Limiting alcohol intake from early adulthood may reduce UADT cancer risk.
Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Level 3, 207 Bouverie Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia. harindra_jaya@yahoo.com.
Harindra
H
Jayasekara
Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Level 3, 207 Bouverie Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia.|Cancer Epidemiology Centre, Cancer Council Victoria, 615 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne, VIC, 3004, Australia.
Robert J
RJ
MacInnis
Cancer Epidemiology Centre, Cancer Council Victoria, 615 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne, VIC, 3004, Australia.
Allison M
AM
Hodge
Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Level 3, 207 Bouverie Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia.|Cancer Epidemiology Centre, Cancer Council Victoria, 615 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne, VIC, 3004, Australia.
John L
JL
Hopper
Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Level 3, 207 Bouverie Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia.|Cancer Epidemiology Centre, Cancer Council Victoria, 615 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne, VIC, 3004, Australia.
Graham G
GG
Giles
Centre for Health and Society, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, 207 Bouverie Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia.|Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, 54-62 Gertrude Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3065, Australia.|Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden.
Robin
R
Room
Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Level 3, 207 Bouverie Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia.|Cancer Epidemiology Centre, Cancer Council Victoria, 615 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne, VIC, 3004, Australia.
Dallas R
DR
English
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000453:epidemiology; D001315:Australia; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010610:Pharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012306:Risk; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires