New study calculates alcohol-related cancer risk in cigarette equivalents to help communicate risk



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The well-established link between cancer and tobacco could increase understanding of the links between moderate levels of alcohol and cancer and raise public awareness of the risks of alcohol-related cancer, according to a study published in the journal free access. BMC Public Health.

A team of researchers from the Southampton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Bangor University and the University of Southampton estimated the cancer risk badociated with moderate alcohol consumption and compared it to the risk of cancer badociated with smoking.

Dr. Theresa Hydes, the corresponding author, said, "Our study describes the percentage increase in cancer risk in the UK population badociated with different levels of alcohol consumption, and is the only study to provide a" cigarette equivalent "in terms of damage.

"We wanted to answer the following question: only in terms of cancer risk – that is, to examine cancer separately from other harms – how many cigarettes are in a bottle of wine?" Our results suggest that the equivalent of a bottle of wine is five cigarettes for men and ten for women a week ".

The authors estimate that in non-smoking men, the absolute risk of developing cancer during one's life, ie the risk of developing cancer during one's lifetime, badociated with the consumption of A bottle of wine a week is 1.0%. For women, it is 1.4%. Thus, if 1,000 men and 1,000 women each drink a bottle of wine a week, about 10 men and 14 additional women may develop cancer at some point in their lives. In men, this risk seems to be mainly badociated with cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, whereas in women, 55% of cases seem to be badociated with bad cancer.

The study aims to draw public attention to the fact that only moderate levels of alcohol consumption, such as a bottle of wine a week, can expose people to cancer, especially bad cancer. The authors point out that it is an important problem because bad cancer is the most prevalent cancer among women in the UK.

The authors also found that consuming three bottles of wine a week (about half a bottle per day) – a level known to increase the risk of a range of health problems – was badociated with an increased risk of cancer absolute life up to 1.9% for men and 3.6% for women, 19 out of 1,000 men and 36 out of 1,000 women, respectively. This equates to smoking about eight cigarettes a week for men and 23 cigarettes a week for women.

Dr. Hydes said, "We need to be absolutely clear that this study does not say that drinking alcohol in moderation is equivalent to smoking, and our findings are about lifetime risk in the population. individual, the risk of cancer represented by the smoking will vary and, for many people, the impact of ten units of alcohol (a bottle of wine) or five to ten cigarettes can be very different. "

In order to calculate the cancer risk badociated with the consumption of ten units of alcohol or ten cigarettes per week, the authors used lifetime cancer risk data from Cancer Research UK (based on available data). provided by the Office for National Statistics of the United Kingdom, ISD Scotland). provides health information, health information, statistical services and advice to support national health services, the Welsh Cancer Watch and Surveillance Unit and the Cancer Registry Northern Ireland), previously published data on the number of cancers of the population attributable to tobacco and data on the relative risk of alcohol and relative cancer for moderate levels of alcohol consumption. and tobacco.

The authors point out that the study is not a comparison of overall mortality due to smoking and alcohol, since it did not take into account the other effects of non-cancer smoking or smoking. alcohol, such as respiratory, cardiovascular or hepatic diseases.

Dr. Hydes said, "Our estimate of a cigarette equivalent for alcohol is a useful measure for raising awareness of potential cancer risks, which exploits successful historical messages about smoking. that excessive consumption of alcohol is related to cancer of the mouth, throat, voice, throat, intestine, liver and bad.But unlike smoking, the public did not understand well. that using the cigarette as a comparator, we could communicate this message more effectively to help people make more informed lifestyle choices. "

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Media contact

Anne Korn

Communications Officer

BMC

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Notes to the editor:

1. Research article:

Comparing bad-related cancer risks of the population between alcohol and tobacco: How many cigarettes are there in a bottle of wine?

Hydes et al. BMC Public Health 2019

DOI: 10.1186 / s12889-019-6576-9

For an embargoed copy of the research article, please contact Anne Korn at BMC.

After the embargo lifts, the article will be available here:
https: //bmcpublichealth.BioMed.com /articles/ten.1186 /s12889-019-6576-9

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