Alcohol raises head and neck cancer risk

1 October, 2007

Alcohol consumption increases the risk of head and neck cancers, but the risk can be reduced by cutting the intake of alcoholic drinks.

A study led by researchers at the Centre for Addition and mental Health (CAMH), Ontario, Canada, showed a relationship between alcohol consumption and an increased risk for cancer of the esophagus, larynx and oral cavity.

The study has been published in the September 2007 issue of the International Journal of Cancer.

In the epidemiologic study, Dr Jürgen Rehm, principal investigator of CAMH, and colleagues analysed literature from 1966 to 2006 and found that the risk of esophageal cancer almost doubled in the first two years following cessation of alcohol drinking.

The researchers explained that many people stopped drinking at a time they might have developed a condition, which might manifest two years after the cessation of alcohol drinking.

But the risk decreased rapidly and significantly later. They found that, after 10 years of alcohol cessation, the risk of head and neck cancers decreased significantly.

After 20 years, the risks for both cancers were similar to those for people who had never been drinking alcoholic beverages.

According to Dr Rehm, cessation of alcohol has very similar effects on head and neck cancer risks as cessation of smoking has on lung cancer. It takes about two decades before the risk is back to the risk of those who were never drinkers or never smokers.

Drinking alcohol has been associated with a number of other cancers, including breast, liver, and colorectal cancers. But, further studies are needed to clarify the inconsistency of previous studies, the researchers said.

Dr Jürgen Rehm and his team found that the risk of oesophageal cancer nearly doubled in the first two years following alcohol cessation, a sharp increase that might be due to the fact that some people only stopped drinking when they were already experiencing disease symptoms.

However, Dr Rehm made it clear that every cancer is not caused by alcohol. Alcohol acts as a contributing agent.

On how much alcohol is enough to pose a risk, he said, “There is no real threshold, but statistically, we know for sure that one drink per day is already significantly increasing the risk of cancer. As you drink more, the risk increases in exponential fashion. For esophageal cancer, for example, drinkers overall have about a threefold risk, compared to non-drinkers.”