Investigators may have uncovered a modest but potentially significant association between alcohol consumption and the risk of developing pancreatic cancer, according to a recent study published by Naudin et al in PLOS Medicine.
Background
Pancreatic cancer is the twelfth most common cancer type and one of the deadliest cancers globally, largely as a result of late diagnoses. The disease accounts for 5% of cancer-related deaths because of its high fatality rate. In 2022, incidence and mortality rates were up to five times higher in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, and Eastern Asia compared with in other regions.
“Alcohol consumption is a known carcinogen, but until now, the evidence linking it specifically to pancreatic cancer has been considered inconclusive,” noted senior study author Pietro Ferrari, MSc, PhD, of the International Cancer Research Agency and Head of the Nutrition and Metabolism Branch at the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Study Methods and Results
In the study, the investigators examined the data of nearly 2.5 million individuals across Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.
The investigators found that each additional 10 g of alcohol consumed per day was associated with a 3% increase in the risk of pancreatic cancer. The correlation remained, regardless of sex or smoking status.
Further, women consuming 15 to 30 g of alcohol daily—amounting to about one to two drinks—had a 12% higher risk of pancreatic cancer compared with light drinkers, whereas men consuming 30 to 60 g daily and those consuming more than 60 g daily faced a respective 15% and 36% higher risk.
Conclusions
“Alcohol is often consumed in combination with tobacco, which has led to questions about whether smoking might confound the relationship,” Dr. Ferrari proposed. “However, our analysis showed that the association between alcohol and pancreatic cancer risk holds even for nonsmokers, indicating that alcohol itself is an independent risk factor,” he added.
The investigators underscored that more research is needed to better understand the impact of lifetime alcohol consumption, including patterns such as binge drinking and early-life exposure.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit journals.plos.org.
