Alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, especially hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, and worse patient outcomes, according to a study recently published in The Breast.
Breast cancer is among the most frequently diagnosed cancers among women across the globe. While some risk factors are outside patients’ control, such as sex and genetics, there are other risk factors, like habits and lifestyle changes, that patients do have control over.
Over the last few decades, alcohol consumption has been increasingly linked to breast cancer. However, the long-term effect on patient outcomes remains relatively unexplored.
Researchers hence conducted a study in which they reviewed existing evidence regarding the relationship between alcohol consumption and breast cancer. Specifically, they searched for published papers that objectively compared outcomes between individuals who consumed alcohol vs those who did not.
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In total, researchers selected 37 studies for their analysis. They found that those who consumed alcohol were at a higher risk of breast cancer compared with those who did not. Furthermore, individuals who heavily consumed alcohol had a higher risk of breast cancer compared with those who consumed less.
Alcohol consumption was significantly associated with a higher risk of a specific form of breast cancer—hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. As for patients who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, alcohol consumption was associated with slightly poorer outcomes in terms of overall survival. In this case, there were no significant differences between heavy vs light consumption of alcohol.
The findings of this study add to the growing body of evidence indicating that alcohol consumption is associated with cancer risk. In this sense, alcohol may be considered a form of carcinogen. As such, public education regarding the risk of alcohol consumption should be accelerated.
“In conclusion, our meta-analysis showed a strong dose-dependent association between alcohol consumption and [breast cancer] incidence, particularly among patients diagnosed with hormone receptor-positive disease,” the authors of the study wrote. “Overall, our findings reinforce the importance of alcohol reduction as a modifiable risk factor for [breast cancer] prevention.”
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