A Danish study compared the cancer morbidity in a large cohort of patients with alcohol use disorders in the general population. The study included 15,258 men and 3552 women free of cancer when attending the Copenhagen Outpatient Clinic for Alcoholics in the period from 1954 to 1992. The cancer incidence until 1999 of the patients and the general Danish population was obtained through linkage with the Danish Cancer Registry. The incidence rates were standardised (SIR) according to sex, age and calendar time.

A total of 2145 alcohol dependent men developed cancer compared to 1140.8 expected cases (SIR = 1.9; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.8–2.0), while 601 dependent women developed cancer compared to 239.1 expected cases (SIR = 2.5; 95% CI 2.3–2.7).

These alcohol dependent subjects had highly significant and strongly elevated incidence rates for cancer of the tongue, mouth, pharynx, oesophagus, liver, larynx and lung. A higher incidence rate was seen for renal cancer for both men (1.4; 1.1–1.8) and women (2.1; 1.0–3.8). The incidence of breast cancer in women was non-significantly elevated, but significantly elevated incidence rate was found for cervical cancer (1.8; 1.2–2.6). The study did not find increased incidence of colon, rectal or urinary bladder cancer.

Source: Cancer Incidence among Patients with Alcohol Use Disorders—Long-Term Follow-Up Alcohol and Alcoholism,Volume 44, Number 4, Pp. 387-391