Pancreatic Cancer and Drinking

Heavy Drinking Associated
With Increased Risk of
Pancreatic Cancer

Heavy alcohol consumption, specifically three
or more glasses of liquor a day, is associated
with an increased risk of death from pancreatic
cancer, according to a report in the March 14

issue of "Archives of Internal Medicine",
one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

"Alcoholic beverage consumption is related to several

cancers including: oral cavity, pharynx, larynx,
esophagus, liver, colorectum and female breast cancers,"
the researchers wrote as background information in their

article. "Heavy alcohol consumption causes acute and

chronic pancreatitis but has never been linked definitively
to pancreatic cancer."

Using data from the Cancer Prevention Study II (CPS-II),
the team of researchersfrom the American Cancer

Society, Atlanta, examined the association between
alcohol intake and pancreatic cancer. The CPS-II is a

long-term prospective study of U.S. adults 30 years and
older. Initial data on alcohol consumption was gathered
in 1982, and based on follow-up through 2006, there
were 6,847 pancreatic cancer deaths among one million
participants.

Of the million participants (453,770 men and 576,697
women), 45.7 percent of men and 62.5 percent of

women were non-drinkers. The analyses of men only
and of men and women combined showed statistically

significant increased risk of pancreatic cancer death for
consumption of three drinks per day and four or more
drinks per day, whereas for women only the estimated
risk of death from pancreatic cancer was statistically

significant for consumption of four or more drinks
per day.

Compared with non-drinkers, consuming three or
more drinks of liquor per day was associated with an

increased risk of pancreatic cancer death in the total
study population, and consumption of two or more

drinks of liquor per day was associated with an

increased risk in both never smokers and in those
who had ever smoked. This association was observed
specifically for liquor consumption but not for beer or
wine.

In never smokers, there was a 36 percent higher risk
of pancreatic cancer death associated with consuming

three or more drinks a day compared with non-drinkers
for men and women combined. In those who had ever

smoked, there was a 16 percent higher risk of death
from pancreatic cancer after adjustments for smoking
history and other variables.

"Findings from the prospective study presented herein
strongly support the hypothesis that alcohol consumption,
in particular heavy liquor intake, also is an independent
risk factor for pancreatic cancer, the fourth most common
cause of cancer mortality [death] in the United States,"
the researchers concluded.

Journal Reference:

JAMA / Archives Journals.

Association of Alcohol Intake With Pancreatic Cancer
Mortality in Never Smokers. Arch Intern Med, 2011

Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice,

diagnosis or treatment.