Alcohol and cancer | EPFL Graph Search

Alcohol causes cancers of the oesophagus, liver, breast, colon, oral cavity, rectum, pharynx, and larynx, and probably causes cancers of the pancreas. Consumption of alcohol in any quantity can cause cancer. The more alcohol is consumed, the higher the cancer risk, and no amount can be considered safe. Alcoholic beverages were classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 1988. 3.6% of all cancer cases and 3.5% of cancer deaths worldwide are attributable to consumption of alcohol (more specifically, acetaldehyde, a metabolic derivative of ethanol). 740,000 cases of cancer in 2020 or 4.1% of new cancer cases were attributed to alcohol. Alcohol is thought to cause cancer through three main mechanisms: DNA methylation Oxidative stress Hormonal alteration as well as secondary mechanisms of liver cirrhosis, microbiome dysbiosis, reduced immune system function, retinoid metabolism, increased levels of inflammation, 1-Carbon metabolism and disruption of folate absorption. Heavy drinking consisting of 15 or more drinks per week for men or 8 or more drinks per week for women beverages/week contributed the most to cancer incidence compared with moderate drinking. The rate of alcohol related cases is 3:1 male:female, especially in oesophageal and liver cancers. Some nations have introduced alcohol packaging warning messages that inform consumers about alcohol and cancer. The alcohol industry has tried to actively mislead the public about the risk of cancer due to alcohol consumption, in addition to campaigning to remove laws that require alcoholic beverages to have cancer warning labels. In 2020, approximately 740,000 cases of alcohol-related cancers were identified globally with 58% of cases (430,000) residing in Asia 25% of cases (180,000) residing in Europe 8% of cases (60,000) residing in North America 5% of cases (39,000) residing in Latin America and the Caribbean 3% of cases (23,000) residing in Africa 1% of cases (7,000) residing in regions termed "other.

Alcohol consumption, alcohol dependence, and related mortality in Italy in 2004: effects of treatment-based interventions on alcohol dependence

Gerrit Gmel

Background: The tradition of consuming alcohol has long been a part of Italian culture and is responsible for a large health burden. This burden may be reduced with effective interventions, one of the more important of which is treatment for Alcohol Dependence (AD). The aim of this article is to estimate the burden of disease in Italy attributable to alcohol consumption, heavy alcohol consumption, and AD. An additional aim of this paper is to examine the effects of increasing the coverage of treatment for AD on the alcohol-attributable burden of disease. Methods: Alcohol-attributable deaths and the effects of treatments for AD were estimated using alcohol-attributable fractions and simulations. Deaths, potential years of life lost, years lived with disability, and disability adjusted life years lost were obtained for 2004 for Italy and for the European Union from the Global Burden of Disease study. Alcohol consumption data were obtained from the Global Information System on Alcohol and Health. The prevalences of current drinkers, former drinkers, and lifetime abstainers were obtained from the GENder Alcohol and Culture International Study. The prevalence of AD was obtained from the World Mental Health Survey. Alcohol relative risks were obtained from various meta-analyses. Results: 5,320 deaths (1,530 female deaths; 3,790 male deaths) or 5.9% of all deaths (4.9% of all female deaths; 6.3% of all male deaths) of people 15 to 64 years of age were estimated to be alcohol-attributable. Of these deaths, 74.5% (61.3% for females; 79.8% for males) were attributable to heavy drinking, and 26.9% (25.6% for females; 27.5% for males) were attributable to AD. Increasing pharmacological AD treatment coverage to 40% would result in an estimated reduction of 3.3% (50 deaths/year) of all female and 7.6% (287 deaths/year) of all male alcohol-attributable deaths. Conclusions: Alcohol was responsible for a large proportion of the burden of disease in Italy in 2004. Increasing treatment coverage for AD in Italy could reduce that country's alcohol-attributable burden of disease.

Biomed Central Ltd2013

Alcohol consumption, alcohol dependence, and related mortality in Italy in 2004: effects of treatment-based interventions on alcohol dependence

Gerrit Gmel

Biomed Central Ltd2013