Reducing Alcohol Use to Prevent Cancer Deaths: Estimated Effects Among U.S. Adults

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Am J Prev Med
• Personal Author:
  Esser, Marissa B. ; Sherk, Adam ; Liu, Yong ; Henley, S. Jane ; Naimi, Timothy S.
• Description:
  Introduction
  
  The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025 recommends non-drinking or no more than two drinks for men or one drink for women in a day. However, even at lower levels, alcohol use increases the risk for certain cancers. This study estimated mean annual alcohol-attributable cancer deaths and the number of cancer deaths that could potentially be prevented if all U.S. adults who drink reduced their alcohol use to correspond with typical consumption of those who drink within the recommended limits.
  
  Methods
  
  Among U.S. residents aged ≥20 years, mean annual alcohol-attributable cancer deaths during 2020–2021 that could have been prevented with hypothetical reductions in alcohol use were estimated. Mean daily alcohol consumption prevalence estimates from the 2020–2021 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, adjusted to per capita alcohol sales to address underreporting of drinking, were applied to relative risks to calculate population-attributable fractions for cancers that can occur from drinking alcohol. Analyses were conducted during February-April 2023.
  
  Results
  
  In the U.S., an estimated 20,216 cancer deaths were alcohol-attributable/year during 2020–2021 (men: 14,562 [72.0%]; women: 5,654 [28.0%]). Approximately 16,800 deaths (83% of alcohol-attributable cancer deaths, 2.8% of all cancer deaths) could have been prevented/year if adults who drank reduced their consumption to ≤2 drinks/day for men or ≤1 drink/day for women. Approximately 650 additional deaths could have been prevented annually if men consumed one drink/day, instead of two.
  
  Conclusions
  
  Implementing evidence-based alcohol policies (e.g., increasing alcohol taxes, regulating alcohol outlet density) to decrease drinking could reduce alcohol-attributable cancers, complementing clinical interventions.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adult Alcohol Drinking Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Female Humans Male Neoplasms Prevalence Taxes
• Source:
  Am J Prev Med. 66(4):725-729
• Pubmed ID:
  38514233
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC10963036
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  66
• Issue:
  4
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7580a3619cc700b9372d1da6ae5d2d34f4678f031c3c32f58325e91098b63cb5c5db5fe35a34ac21b0a76a3ee056d549a3ff2b69c2aaa082af4ced822a9ebc0d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/153549/cdc_153549_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 121.58 KB ]