Alcohol and endometrial cancer risk: a case–control study and a meta-analysis

Abstract

To evaluate the association between alcohol consumption and endometrial cancer risk, we analyzed data from a hospital-based case-control study, conducted in Italy between 1992 and 2006, on 454 endometrial cancer cases and 908 controls, and performed a meta-analysis updated to October 2009. Compared to never alcohol drinkers, the odds ratio was 1.03 (95% confidence interval, CI, 0.76-1.41) for < or = 7, 1.27 (95% CI 0.86-1.87) for 8-14, and 1.19 (95% CI 0.80-1.77) for > or = 15 drinks/week, with no trend in risk. No association emerged for wine, beer, and spirit consumption analyzed separately. The meta-analysis included 20 case-control and seven cohort studies, for a total of 13,120 cases. Compared to non/low drinkers, the pooled relative risks for drinkers were 0.90 (95% CI 0.80-1.01) for case-control studies, 1.01 (95% CI 0.90-1.14) for cohort studies, and 0.95 (95% CI 0.88-1.03) overall, with no heterogeneity between study design (p = 0.156). The overall estimate for heavy versus non/low drinkers was 1.12 (95% CI 0.87-1.45). The results were consistent according to selected study characteristics, including geographic area, definition of alcohol drinkers, and type of controls in case-control studies. Our findings provide evidence that alcohol drinking is not associated with endometrial cancer risk, although a weak positive association for very high drinkers cannot be excluded.

Dietary patterns and endometrial cancer: a meta-analysis

“…However, to our knowledge, two meta-analyses of alcohol consumption and the risk of EC concluded that alcohol drinking was not associated with a risk of EC (Turati et al, 2010;Sun et al, 2011). Moreover, a recent meta-analysis also found a possible J-shaped relationship between alcohol intake and the risk of EC (Friberg et al, 2010).…”

“…The different forms of alcohol consumption were converted into grams of ethanol per day. Alcohol consumption of less than 12.5 g/day or 1 drink/day was defined as low consumption of alcohol and more than 25 g/day or 2 drinks/day was defined as high consumption of alcohol (Turati et al, 2010).…”

Meta‐analysis of alcohol consumption and risk of extrahepatic bile system cancer

“…Refer to Turati et al's 16 analyses, the reference category was the lowest alcohol consumption in each study ("non-/low drinkers"). Exposure alcohol categories referred to "current/regular/yes/ever drinker" in most of the studies (7/10), [17][18][19][20][21][22][23] "moderate/heavy drinkers" in one study 10 and "drinkers" (unspecified) in the other two studies.…”

Long-term alcohol intake and risk of endometrial cancer in the Nurses’ Health Study, 1980–2010

“…However, alcohol intake has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and reduce fasting insulin concentrations as well (Davies et al , 2002). Several epidemiologic studies examined the association between alcohol intake and endometrial cancer risk, showing no association or inverse associations among women who consumed moderate alcohol intake, whereas high alcohol intake showed an increased risk (Friberg et al , 2010; Turati et al , 2010; Sun et al , 2011). Most of the epidemiologic studies were of retrospective design, which measured the past alcohol intake after diagnosis.…”