Heavy drinking in early age increases the risk alcohol-related cancer, study finds

Australia: A new study has found the serious impact of early age drinking and brought out the point that heavy drinking throughout adolescence may increase the chance of developing alcohol-related malignancies, even if drinking stops or declines in middle age. This study was conducted by Julie K. Bassett and her team, the results of which were published in the International Journal of Cancer.

The Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Analysis data from 22 756 women and 15 701 men aged 40 to 69 years at baseline were used in this study to explore relationships between sex-specific alcohol consumption trajectories and alcohol-related cancer risk. Alcohol intake was computed using remembered beverage-specific frequency and amount for 10-year intervals from age 20 to the decade covering recruitment to estimate group-based sex-specific intake trajectories. For primary invasive alcohol-related cancer, hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated (upper aerodigestive tract, breast, liver colon, and rectum). There were three unique alcohol intake trajectories for women (lifetime abstinence, stable light, rising moderate) and six distinct trajectories for males (lifetime abstention, stable light, stable moderate, increasing heavy, early decreasing heavy, late decreasing heavy).

The results of this study stated as follow:

1. 2303 incident alcohol-related malignancies were diagnosed in women over 485 525 person-years, and 789 in males over 303 218 person-years.

2. Heavy intake (mean 60 g/day) at age 20 to 39, followed by either an early (from age 40 to 49) or late decrease (from age 60 to 69), and moderate intake (mean 60 g/day) at age 20 to 39 increasing to heavy intake in middle-age was associated with an increased risk of alcohol-related cancer in men, compared to lifetime abstinence.

3. When compared to lifetime abstinence, rising consumption from age 20 (growing moderately) was linked with an increased incidence of alcohol-related cancer in women.

4. Colorectal (men) and breast cancer were shown to have similar connections.

5. Heavy drinking in adolescence may raise the risk of cancer later in life.

In conclusion, it is most certainly not safe, as evidenced by this study, that heavy drinking in adolescence can increase the risk of cancer later in life.

Reference: 

Bassett, J. K., MacInnis, R. J., Yang, Y., Hodge, A. M., Lynch, B. M., English, D. R., Giles, G. G., Milne, R. L., & Jayasekara, H. (2022). Alcohol intake trajectories during the life course and risk of alcohol-related cancer: A prospective cohort study. International journal of cancer, 10.1002/ijc.33973. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.33973

Keywords: alcohol, cancer, heavy drinking, abstinence, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, International Journal of Cancer, addiction,