Abstract
Alcohol consumption is a well-known risk factor for laryngeal cancer. To determine whether alcoholism, as measured by responses to the Michigan alcoholism screening test (MAST), is a risk factor for laryngeal cancer independent of alcohol consumption, we analyzed data from a population-based case-control study. Personal interviews were conducted with 235 patients (81 percent response rate) with laryngeal cancer diagnosed from September 1983 through February 1987, who were residents of the Seattle metropolitan area. A total of 547 controls frequency-matched by age and gender, selected by random-digit dialing, were interviewed (75 percent response rate). When considered in a multivariate model, independent risk factors for laryngeal cancer included: alcohol consumption (42 or more drinks/wk compared with seven or less drinks/wk: odds ratio [OR]=3.1,95 percent confidence interval [CI]=1.2–7.9); cigarette use (40 or more cigarettes/day compared with never-smoked: OR=23.1, CI=9.4–52.6); and weighted positive responses to the MAST (score of five or more compared with score of zero: OR=1.9, CI=1.1–3.4). Possible explanations for the association between alcoholism and laryngeal cancer are that a measure of alcoholism improves the accuracy of assessment of alcohol consumption, that alcoholism is associated with a pattern of alcohol consumption that increases the risk of laryngeal cancer, or that alcoholism may be a marker for host susceptibility to the carcinogenic effects of alcohol.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
World Health Organization.Alcohol Drinking. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer, 1988;IARC Monogr Eval Carcinog Risks Humans, Vol. 44: 178–86, 251–60.
Rothman KJ, Cann CI, Flanders D, Fried MP. Epidemiology of laryngeal cancer.Epidemiol Rev 1980;2: 195–209.
Zatonski W, Becher H, Lissowska J, Wahrendorf J. Tobacco, alcohol, and diet in the etiology of laryngeal cancer: a population-based case-control study.Cancer Causes Control 1991;2: 3–10.
Guenel P, Chastang JF, Luce D, Leclerc A, Brugere J. A study of the interaction of alcohol drinking and tobacco smoking among French cases of laryngeal cancer.J Epidemiol Comm Health 1988;42: 350–4.
Rothman KJ, Cann CI, Fried MP. Carcinogenicity of dark liquor.Am J Public Health 1989;79: 1516–20.
Lieber CS, Garro A, Leo MA, Mak KM, Worner T. Alcohol and cancer.Hepatology 1986;6: 1005–19.
Schmidt W, de Lint J. Causes of death of alcoholics.Quart J Stud Alc 1972;33: 171–85.
Pell S, D'Alonzo CA. A five-year mortality study of alcoholics.J Occup Med 1973;15: 120–5.
Hakulinen T, Lehtimaki L, Lehtonen M, Teppo L. Cancer morbidity among two male cohorts with increased alcohol consumption in Finland.JNCI 1974;52: 1711–4.
Monson RR, Lyon JL. Proportional mortality among alcoholics.Cancer 1975;36: 1077–9.
Schmidt W, Popham RE. The role of drinking and smoking in mortality from cancer and other causes in male alcoholics.Cancer 1981;47: 1031–41.
Wallace, RB, Colsher PL. Enhancing the utility of quantity-frequency measures of alcohol consumption with assessment of problem drinking in a population study.Ann Epidemiol 1990;1: 157–65.
World Health Organization,International Classification of Diseases. Ninth Revision. Geneva: WHO, 1977.
Waksberg J. Sampling methods for random digit dialing.J Am Stat Assoc 1978;73: 40–6.
Selzer ML. The Michigan Alcoholism and Screening Test: The quest for a new diagnostic instrument.Am J Psych 1971;127: 1653–9.
Skinner HA. A multivariate evaluation of the Michigan Alcoholism and Screening Test.J Stud Alc 1979;40: 831–44.
Rogers MAM, Thomas DB, Davis S, Weiss NS, Vaughan TL, Nevissi AE. A case-control study of oral cancer and pre-diagnostic concentrations of selenium and zinc in nail tissue.Int J Cancer 1991;48: 182–8.
Little RE, Schultz FA, Mandell W. Describing alcohol consumption. A comparison of three methods and a new approach.J Stud Alc 1977;38: 554–62.
Watson CG, Tilleskjor C, Hoodecheck-Schow EA, Pucel J, Jacobs L. Do alcoholics give valid self-reports?J Stud Alc 1984;45 344–8.
Sobell LC, Sobell MB, Riley DM, et al. The reliability of alcohol abusers' self-reports of drinking and life events that occurred in the distant past.J Stud Alc 1988;49: 225–32.
DeStefani E, Correa P, Oreggia F, et al. Risk factors for laryngeal cancer.Cancer 1987;60: 3087–91.
Graham S, Mettlin C, Marshall J, Priore R, Rzepka T, Shedd D. Dietary factors in the epidemiology of cancer of the larynx.Am J Epidemiol 1981;113: 675–80.
La Vecchia C, Negri E, D'Avanzo B, Franceschi S, Decarli A, Boyle P. Dietary indicators of laryngeal cancer risk.Cancer Res 1990;50: 4497–500.
McCoy GD. A biochemical approach to the etiology of alcohol related cancers of the head and neck.Laryngoscope 1978;88 (Suppl 8, pt 2): 59–62.
Blum K, Noble EP, Sheridan PJ et al. Allelic association of human dopamine D2 receptor gene in alcoholism.JAMA 1990;263: 2055–60.
Bolos AM, Dean M, Lucas-Derse S, Ramsburg M, Brown GL, Goldman D. Population and pedigree studies reveal a lack of association between the dopamine D2 receptor gene and alcoholism.JAMA 1990;264: 3156–60.
Gelernter J, O'Malley S, Risch N, et al. No association between an allele at the D2 dopamine receptor gene (DRD2) and alcoholism.JAMA 1991;266: 1801–7.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
conducted this work while with the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (USA)
This research was supported in part by grants # RO1-CA-30022 and R37-CA-41530, and contract # NO1-CN-05230 from the US National Cancer Institute.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hedberg, K., Vaughan, T.L., White, E. et al. Alcoholism and cancer of the larynx: a case-control study in western Washington (United States). Cancer Causes Control 5, 3–8 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01830720
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01830720