Alcohol intake and mortality among women with invasive breast cancer
British Journal of Cancer, 01/05/2012
Clinical Article
H R Harris et al. –These findings suggest that alcohol intake up to approximately one small drink per day does not negatively impact breast cancer–specific survival and a half drink per day is associated with a decreased risk of mortality from other causes.
Methods- Investigated whether alcohol intake was associated with survival among 3146 women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in the Swedish Mammography Cohort
- Alcohol consumption was estimated using food frequency questionnaire
- Cox proportional hazard models were used to calculate HRs and 95% CIs
- From 1987 to 2008 there were 385 breast cancer–specific deaths and 860 total deaths
- No significant association was observed between alcohol intake and breast cancer–specific survival
- Women who consumed 10?g per day (corresponding to approximately 0.75 to 1 drinks) or more of alcohol had an adjusted HR (95% CI) of breast cancer–specific death of 1.36 (0.82–2.26;ptrend=0.47) compared with non–drinkers
- Significant inverse association was observed between alcohol and non–breast cancer deaths
- Those who consumed 3.4–9.9?g per day of alcohol had a 33% lower risk of death compared with non–drinkers (95% CI 0.50–0.90;ptrend=0.04)