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Heavy Alcohol Use Linked to Colon Cancer: Presented at ACG

By Charlene Laino

BALTIMORE, MD -- October 22, 2003 -- Individuals who drink nine or more drinks made with distilled spirits a week for 10 years or more are about three times more likely to develop significant left-sided colorectal pathology than teetotalers, a cross-sectional study finds.

A glass of wine a day, on the other hand, slashes the risk of neoplastic lesions by nearly two-thirds, the study showed. Gurvinder Sethi, MD, of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York, United States, presented the findings here on October 14^th at the 68^th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology.

Previous studies have been inconclusive about the role of alcohol as a risk factor for colorectal cancer, Dr. Sethi said. To test the hypothesis that the prevalence of colon cancer is increased among heavy drinkers, the researchers studied 1,998 asymptomatic men and women. The average age of the volunteers was 57 years, and about half were female. Almost all were white, and 87% had completed at least one year of college.

All the patients had a screening colonoscopy and were asked how much and for how long they smoked and drank. The researchers then subdivided the patients by type of alcohol beverage and number of drinks consumed per week over the past 10 years: 0 drinks a week corresponded to abstinence; one to eight week drinks a week to moderate; and nine or more drinks a week to heavy.

Significant left-sided neoplastic lesions -- defined as large, multiple villous adenomas, high grade dysplasias or adenocarcinomas distal to the splenic flexure -- were found in 6.1% of the non-drinkers, compared with 17.4% of those who drank at least nine glasses per week of spirits for more than 10 years.

A multivariate analysis that controlled for age, gender, smoking, weight, diet, exercise, family history and education level showed heavy drinkers were 3.3 times more likely to develop colon cancer than non-drinkers (p<0.003). While moderate wine drinkers were 63% less likely to develop colon cancer (p<0.01), heavier wine drinking was not protective (OR=0.83, p=0.720), Dr. Sethi said. Drinking beer appeared to have no effect on colon cancer risk, the study showed.

Dr. Sethi said the findings raise the possibility that heavy drinkers should be screened for colon cancer more frequently and starting at any earlier age than other people. "We still need more study," he told the audience. "But I'm sure anyone sitting here would be willing to participate in such a study."


[Study title: Alcohol Consumption And Significant Left-Sided Colorectal Neoplasia In A Screening Population. Abstract 48]

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