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Alcohol intake, drinking patterns, and prostate cancer risk and mortality: a 30-year prospective cohort study of Finnish twins

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Abstract

Purpose

Alcohol intake may be associated with cancer risk, but epidemiologic evidence for prostate cancer is inconsistent. We aimed to prospectively investigate the association between midlife alcohol intake and drinking patterns with future prostate cancer risk and mortality in a population-based cohort of Finnish twins.

Methods

Data were drawn from the Older Finnish Twin Cohort and included 11,372 twins followed from 1981 to 2012. Alcohol consumption was assessed by questionnaires administered at two time points over follow-up. Over the study period, 601 incident cases of prostate cancer and 110 deaths from prostate cancer occurred. Cox regression was used to evaluate associations between weekly alcohol intake and binge drinking patterns with prostate cancer risk and prostate cancer-specific mortality. Within-pair co-twin analyses were performed to control for potential confounding by shared genetic and early environmental factors.

Results

Compared to light drinkers (≤3 drinks/week; non-abstainers), heavy drinkers (>14 drinks/week) were at a 1.46-fold higher risk (HR 1.46; 95 % CI 1.12, 1.91) of prostate cancer, adjusting for important confounders. Among current drinkers, binge drinkers were at a significantly increased risk of prostate cancer (HR 1.28; 95 % CI 1.06, 1.55) compared to non-binge drinkers. Abstainers were at a 1.90-fold higher risk (HR 1.90; 95 % CI 1.04, 3.47) of prostate cancer-specific mortality compared to light drinkers, but no other significant associations for mortality were found. Co-twin analyses suggested that alcohol consumption may be associated with prostate cancer risk independent of early environmental and genetic factors.

Conclusion

Heavy regular alcohol consumption and binge drinking patterns may be associated with increased prostate cancer risk, while abstinence may be associated with increased risk of prostate cancer-specific mortality compared to light alcohol consumption.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Kauko Heikkilä, Ph.Lic, for assistance in database management.

Grants

JK is supported by the Academy of Finland (Grants 265240 and 263278). SCM is supported by the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health Training Grant NIH T32 CA09001.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Barbra A. Dickerman, Sarah Coseo Markt & Lorelei A. Mucci

  2. Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Mannerheimintie 172, P.O. Box 41, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Markku Koskenvuo & Jaakko Kaprio

  3. Finnish Cancer Registry, Institute for Statistical and Epidemiological Cancer Research, Unioninkatu 22, 00130, Helsinki, Finland

    Eero Pukkala

  4. School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, 33014, Tampere, Finland

    Eero Pukkala

  5. Department of Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Mannerheimintie 166, P.O. Box 30, 00300, Helsinki, Finland

    Jaakko Kaprio

  6. Institute for Molecular Medicine (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Tukholmankatu 8, P.O. Box 20, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Jaakko Kaprio

Authors
  1. Barbra A. Dickerman
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  2. Sarah Coseo Markt
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  3. Markku Koskenvuo
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  4. Eero Pukkala
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  5. Lorelei A. Mucci
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  6. Jaakko Kaprio
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Correspondence to Jaakko Kaprio.

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Dickerman, B.A., Markt, S.C., Koskenvuo, M. et al. Alcohol intake, drinking patterns, and prostate cancer risk and mortality: a 30-year prospective cohort study of Finnish twins. Cancer Causes Control 27, 1049–1058 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-016-0778-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-016-0778-6

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