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Alcohol consumption and risk of melanoma among women: pooled analysis of eight case–control studies

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Abstract

While alcohol consumption is known to increase the risk of several types of cancer, evidence regarding the association between alcohol and melanoma is inconclusive. This pooled analysis was conducted to examine total alcohol consumption (grams per day), and type of alcohol consumed (beer, wine, beer and wine combined, and liquor) in relation to melanoma among women using original data from eight completed case–control studies (1886 cases and 2113 controls), with adjustment for the potential confounding effects of sun exposure-related factors. We found a positive association with ever consuming alcohol [adjusted pooled odds ratio (pOR) 1.3, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.1–1.5]. Specifically the pORs were 1.4 (95 % CI 1.1–1.8) for wine, 1.1 (95 % CI 0.9–1.5) for beer and 1.2 (95 % CI 1.0–1.4) for liquor. However, the pOR for the highest fourth of consumption compared with never consumption was 1.0 (95 % CI 0.7–1.3) without evidence of a trend with increasing amount of total alcohol, or separately with amount of beer, wine or liquor consumed. Stratifying by anatomic site of lesion, number of nevi, age group, or histologic subtype did not alter these results. Although the results showed a weak positive association between ever consuming alcohol and melanoma occurrence, our findings do not provide strong support for the hypothesis that alcohol consumption plays a role in the development of melanoma in women.

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Acknowledgments

The IMAGE group members are: Bruce Armstrong, Veronique Bataille, Marianne Berwick, J Mark Elwood, Richard P Gallagher, Adèle C Green, Elizabeth A Holly, Margaret R Karagas, Connie S Kirkpatrick, Thomas Mack, Anne Østerlind, Stephano Rosso, and Anthony J Swerdlow.

This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute R01 CA62345. KM was supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) Program Grant (No. 552429). EAH was supported by National Cancer Institute grant R01-CA34382. MRK was supported by the National Institutes of General Medicine grant P20 GM104416. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer and Population Studies Group, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston, QLD, Australia

    Kyoko Miura & Adèle C. Green

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Geisel School of Medicine, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA

    Michael S. Zens, Tessa Peart & Margaret R. Karagas

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Elizabeth A. Holly

  4. Department of Internal Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Marianne Berwick

  5. Cancer Control Research, BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Richard P. Gallagher

  6. Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Thomas M. Mack

  7. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    J. Mark Elwood

  8. Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute and University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Adèle C. Green

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  1. Kyoko Miura
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Correspondence to Kyoko Miura.

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On behalf of the International Melanoma Analysis Group (IMAGE) authors. Members of International Melanoma Analysis Group (IMAGE) are listed in “Acknowledgments”.

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Miura, K., Zens, M.S., Peart, T. et al. Alcohol consumption and risk of melanoma among women: pooled analysis of eight case–control studies. Arch Dermatol Res 307, 819–828 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-015-1591-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-015-1591-x

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