Alcohol intake patterns for cancer and non-cancer individuals: a population study

Alcohol consumption is one of the leading modifiable causes of cancer deaths. The impact of alcohol intake on cancer survivors is gaining more attention with a growing number of cancer survivors. Approximately more than one third of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetimes in the United States (1). With improvement of cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment, the 5-year relative survival rate was more than 60% for all cancers diagnosed during 2008 through 2014 (2). It was estimated that the number of cancer survivors will increase from 15.5 million to 20.3 million from 2016 to 2026 in the United States (1). It is well known that health behaviors such as smoking, physical activity, and alcohol play an important role in cancer progression (3). Heavy alcohol intake is strongly associated with increased deaths from alcohol-related cancers and total mortality (4). In addition, it has been reported that alcohol use contributed to approximately 3.5% of all cancer deaths and approximately 18 years of potential life lost for each alcohol-related cancer death (5). Specifically, 30% of alcohol-related cancer deaths were attributed to heavy drinking (5)