A Pooled Analysis of Alcohol Consumption and Risk of Multiple Myeloma in the International Multiple Myeloma Consortium

Abstract

Background Recent findings suggest that alcohol consumption may reduce risk of multiple myeloma (MM). Methods To better understand this relationship, we conducted an analysis of six case-control studies participating in the International Multiple Myeloma Consortium (1,567 cases, 7,296 controls). Summary odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) relating different measures of alcohol consumption and MM risk were computed by unconditional logistic regression with adjustment for age, race, and study center. Results Cases were significantly less likely than controls to report ever drinking alcohol (men: OR 0.72, 95% CI 0.59-0.89, women: OR 0.81, 0.68-0.95). The inverse association with MM was stronger when comparing current to never drinkers (men: OR=0.57, 95% CI 0.45-0.72, women: OR=0.55, 95% CI 0.45-0.68), but null among former drinkers. We did not observe an exposure-response relationship with increasing alcohol frequency, duration or cumulative lifetime consumption. Additional adjustment for body mass index, education, or smoking did not affect our results; and the patterns of association were similar for each type of alcohol beverage examined. Conclusions Our study is, to our knowledge, the largest of its kind to date, and our findings suggest that alcohol consumption may be associated with reduced risk of MM. Impact Prospective studies, especially those conducted as pooled analyses with large sample sizes, are needed to confirm our findings and further explore whether alcohol consumption provides true biologic protection against this rare, highly fatal malignancy.

Young Adult and Usual Adult Body Mass Index and Multiple Myeloma Risk: A Pooled Analysis in the International Multiple Myeloma Consortium (IMMC)

“…We categorized age at interview by decade (<50, 50–59, 60–69, 70+ years) and race/ethnicity into three groups (White, Black, Other/unknown). We harmonized education level into five categories (<12 years of study; 12+ years or high school graduate; some attendance at college, technical, or vocational school after high school; graduation from college without further studies; or, other) and defined participants’ history of tobacco use (ever, never) and alcohol intake (ever, never)(26, 38). …”

“…To further elucidate the association of BMI and related anthropometric measures with MM, we conducted a pooled analysis of eight case-control studies participating in the International Multiple Myeloma Consortium (IMMC)(26). The pooled total of 2,318 confirmed incident cases of MM and 9,609 controls—with young adult BMI data for 1,164 cases and 3,629 controls—makes the present study the largest to date and the best equipped to evaluate the independence of younger and later adult BMI associations with MM and the heterogeneity of BMI-MM associations across demographically defined MM risk strata.…”

A Pooled Analysis of Cigarette Smoking and Risk of Multiple Myeloma from the International Multiple Myeloma Consortium

“…The methods of the participating studies and this pooled analysis have been previously described (3). Smoking status was based on participants’ usual behavior prior to the diagnosis of multiple myeloma or index date for controls; and former/current smoking status was based on direct questions or calculated from smoking duration.…”

Alcohol consumption and risk of multiple myeloma in the NIH‐AARP Diet and Health Study

“…2,3 Among the potential modifiable risk factors, alcohol consumption has been inconsistently associated with MM. Statistically significant or at least marginal inverse associations between alcohol intake and MM risk have been reported in case-control studies, [4][5][6][7] including a more recent pooled analysis of six studies; 8 several of these investigations noted somewhat stronger inverse associations with MM for greater frequency of alcohol consumption. 6,7 However, other case-control studies found no association.…”