title: Alcohol consumption and risk of cutaneous basal cell carcinoma in women and men: 3 prospective cohort studies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Alcohol consumption has been associated with an increased prevalence of sunburn, which is an established skin cancer risk factor.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We investigated whether alcohol consumption is associated with risk of cutaneous basal cell carcinoma (BCC).
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a prospective analysis on alcohol consumption and risk of BCC on the basis of data from 167,765 women in the NHS (Nurses' Health Study) (1984-2010) and NHS II (1991-2011) and 43,697 men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986-2010). Alcohol intake was repeatedly assessed every 2-4 y over the follow-up period. HRs and 95% CIs for BCC in association with alcohol intake were computed with the use of Cox proportional hazards models with adjustment for sun exposure and other skin cancer risk factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 28,951 incident BCC cases were documented over 3.74 million person-years of follow-up. Increased alcohol intake was associated with increased BCC risk in both women and men (both P-trend < 0.0001). Pooled multivariable-adjusted HRs over increasing cumulative averaged alcohol intake categories were 1.00 (reference) for nondrinkers, 1.13 (95% CI: 1.06, 1.20) for 0.1-9.9 g/d, 1.24 (95% CI: 1.14, 1.35) for 10.0-19.9 g/d, 1.27 (95% CI: 1.20, 1.35) for 20.0-29.9 g/d, and 1.22 (95% CI: 1.15, 1.30) for ≥30.0 g/d (P-trend < 0.0001, P-heterogeneity by study = 0.10 ). The association remained consistent when we used alcohol intakes over different latency periods (0-4, 4-8, 8-12, and 12-16 y) as exposures and over categories of sun exposure-related factors. In the individual alcoholic beverages, white wine and liquor were positively associated with BCC risk.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Alcohol consumption is associated with increased risk of cutaneous BCC in both women and men.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Warren Alpert Medical School, and Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA; eunyoung_cho@brown.edu nhshw@channing.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Shaowei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Warren Alpert Medical School, and Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Brown University, Providence, RI;
authors.forename: Wen-Qing
authors.initials: WQ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Warren Alpert Medical School, and Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Brown University, Providence, RI; Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; and Department of Dermatology, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI.
authors.forename: Abrar A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Qureshi
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Warren Alpert Medical School, and Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Brown University, Providence, RI; Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; and eunyoung_cho@brown.edu nhshw@channing.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Eunyoung
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cho
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014920:Wine / Q000009:adverse effects
keywords: alcohol; basal cell carcinoma; cohort study; epidemiology; skin cancer; sun exposure