Another Study Points to Higher Breast Cancer Risk
from Alcohol for Older Women
The more older (postmenopausal) women drink the
greater the risk
April 14, 2008 A large study has confirmed
several previous studies showing that drinking alcohol is a substantial
risk factor among older women for the development of breast cancer. This
study focused on the most common type of breast cancer the 70% found
positive for both estrogen and progesterone receptors, referred to as
"ER+/PR+" breast cancer. And, the study says the more one drinks the
higher the risk.
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Aug. 22, 2007
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The researchers reported at the American
Association for Cancer Research 2008 Annual Meeting that even moderate
alcohol consumption, defined as one or two drinks per day, increased
risk of developing this kind of cancer, and the more a woman drank, the
higher her risk.
Compared to women who did not drink at all, women who
had three or more glasses of alcohol daily had as much as a 51 percent
increased risk of ER+/PR+ breast cancer.
"This suggests that a woman should evaluate
consumption of alcohol along with other known breast cancer risk
factors, such as use of hormone replacement therapy," said the study's
first author, Jasmine Q. Lew, a fourth-year medical student at the
University of Chicago who is conducting this research as a recipient of
the Howard Hughes Medical Institute-National Institutes of Health
Research Scholarship at the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Division
of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.
Lew and her research colleagues from NCI say their
analysis could not support a definitive conclusion as to whether alcohol
influences development of other breast cancer tumor types. "But we have
enough numbers to study alcohol's influence on ER+/PR+ breast cancer,"
she said.
Epidemiologic studies have long suggested that use
of alcohol may increase a woman's risk for developing breast cancer, and
laboratory studies have shown that alcohol increases the amount of
estrogen metabolites available in a woman's body, which can then act as
a fuel for hormone-sensitive breast cancer. But few studies have looked
at alcohol's effect on tumor type.
In this study, the researchers reviewed data from
the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, which began in 1995.
Lew and her colleagues analyzed 184,418
postmenopausal women who enrolled in this cohort study, and who answered
questions about their daily alcohol consumption.
During an average of seven years of follow-up, they
found that 70 percent of women in the study drank alcohol; the average
amount was a little less than a drink a day. Overall, the authors found
that moderate drinking in women increased risk of developing breast
cancer.
They then identified 5,461 cases of invasive breast
cancer, for which they had tumor type information on 2,391 cases. In
all, they analyzed data on 1,641 ER+/PR+, 366 ER-/PR-, 336 ER+/PR-, and
48 ER-/PR+ cases of invasive breast cancer.
The researchers found that ER+/PR+ cancers showed a
stronger association with alcohol than that seen in the overall group.
Compared to non-drinkers, women who consumed less
than one drink daily, one to two drinks, and three or more daily drinks,
the increase in relative risk for developing ER+/PR+ breast cancer was 7
percent, 32 percent, and 51 percent, respectively.
Although the data suggested increased risks among
the women with ER+/PR- breast cancer, the number of cases was relatively
small, and this finding was not statistically significant.
The increased risk of invasive breast cancer was
observed across different types of alcohol consumed.
"Our study at this point provides evidence for the
notion that alcohol affects estrogen metabolism, which increases risk of
hormone sensitive breast cancer," Lew said. "Still, more study is needed
to clarify the effect of alcohol on other tumor types."
About American Association for Cancer Research
The mission of the American Association for Cancer
Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, AACR is the
world's oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to
advancing cancer research. The membership includes nearly 27,000 basic,
translational, and clinical researchers; health care professionals; and
cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and more than 70
other countries.
www.aacr.org
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Archived Stories on Alcohol Consumption
April 14, 2008 A large study has confirmed
several previous studies showing that drinking alcohol is a substantial
risk factor among older women for the development of breast cancer. This
study focused on the most common type of breast cancer the 70% found
positive for both estrogen and progesterone receptors, referred to as
"ER+/PR+" breast cancer. And, the study says the more one drinks the
higher the risk.