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Lifetime alcohol consumption and upper aero-digestive tract cancer risk in the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study

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Abstract

Purpose

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.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the original investigators and the diligent team, who recruited the participants and who continue working on follow-up, for their contribution. We also express our gratitude to the many thousands of Melbourne residents who continue to participate in the study. This study was funded by grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (209057, 251533, 396414). Cohort recruitment was funded by VicHealth and The Cancer Council Victoria. Further infrastructure support was provided by The Cancer Council Victoria. HJ is the recipient of a postgraduate scholarship from the National Health and Medical Research Council (1017346). JLH is a National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Principal Research Fellow. RR’s position is funded by the Victorian Department of Health and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 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 Jayasekara, Robert J. MacInnis, John L. Hopper, Graham G. Giles & Dallas R. English

  2. Cancer Epidemiology Centre, Cancer Council Victoria, 615 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne, VIC, 3004, Australia

    Robert J. MacInnis, Allison M. Hodge, John L. Hopper, Graham G. Giles & Dallas R. English

  3. Centre for Health and Society, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, 207 Bouverie Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Robin Room

  4. Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, 54-62 Gertrude Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3065, Australia

    Robin Room

  5. Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Robin Room

Authors
  1. Harindra Jayasekara
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  2. Robert J. MacInnis
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  3. Allison M. Hodge
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  4. John L. Hopper
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  5. Graham G. Giles
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  6. Robin Room
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  7. Dallas R. English
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Correspondence to Harindra Jayasekara.

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Jayasekara, H., MacInnis, R.J., Hodge, A.M. et al. Lifetime alcohol consumption and upper aero-digestive tract cancer risk in the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study. Cancer Causes Control 26, 297–301 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-014-0495-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-014-0495-y

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