Type of alcoholic beverage and oral cancer

Abstract

The effect on oral cancer risk of different types of alcoholic beverage was investigated using data from a hospital-based case-control study. Owing to the small numbers of subjects drinking one beverage exclusively, it was necessary to classify drinkers as consumers of predominantly beer, wine, or hard liquor (i.e., more than 50% of their whiskey equivalents of alcohol derived from a specific beverage). The number of predominantly wine drinkers was too small to permit analysis. Logistic regression was used to obtain estimates of the risk associated with each predominant beverage, with adjustment for other risk factors and confounding variables. In males, the odds ratio for predominantly beer drinkers increased with increasing level of intake, reaching 4.87 (95% confidence interval: 2.51-9.46) in drinkers of 7+ oz. of whiskey equivalents/day. The odds ratio for predominantly hard liquor drinkers showed a similar increase, reaching 5.74 (95% confidence interval: 2.94-11.22) in predominantly hard liquor drinkers consuming 7+ oz. of whiskey equivalents/day, suggesting that the effect of these 2 major types of alcoholic beverage is of similar magnitude. The trends were less clearcut in women due to small numbers of drinkers.

Alcohol-Related Diseases of the Mouth and Throat

“…Whisky drinkers consuming greater than 10 whisky equivalent units/day had a relative risk of 7.3 whilst wine or beer drinkers had a relative risk of 20.4 [28] . In contrast to these results, beer and whisky have been implicated over wine [43] and whisky has been implicated over beer and wine [44] in other studies. Leclerc et al [45] found that in cases of oral cancer a higher proportion of wine consumers were observed.…”

Population based cohort study of the association between alcohol intake and cancer of the upper digestive tract

“…A common feature of these studies was that the main type of alcohol drunk was also the type most strongly associated with risk of upper digestive tract cancer 16. This could be interpreted as all three types of drinks (beer, wine, and spirits) having an equally detrimental effect.…”

L’alcool : une drogue licite aux conséquences bucco-dentaires non négligeables

“…L' importance du type d' alcool (vin, bière, spiritueux) a été étudiée pour la première fois en 1988 par un groupe d' experts internationaux (IARC, 1988), puis réévaluée par la suite. La majorité des auteurs s' accordent pour dire que la durée et la quantité d'alcool consommée semblent être des facteurs de risque plus importants que le type de boissons alcoolisées absorbées [69][70][71][72][73][74]. S' agissant du cancer buccal, le risque diminue au bout de trois ans d' arrêt, demandant au moins quatorze années pour être proche de celui de la population abstinente et une vingtaine d' années pour le cancer du larynx [69,70].…”