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Baseline and lifetime alcohol consumption and risk of differentiated thyroid carcinoma in the EPIC study

Sen A 1 , Tsilidis KK 1 , Allen NE 2 , Rinaldi S 3 , Appleby PN 4 , Almquist M 5 Show all authors , Schmidt JA 4 , Dahm CC 6 , Overvad K 6 , Tjønneland A 7 , Rostgaard-Hansen AL 7 , Clavel-Chapelon F 8 , Baglietto L 9 , Boutron-Ruault MC 8 , Kühn T 10 , Katze VA 10 , Boeing H 11 , Trichopoulou A 12 , Tsironis C 12 , Lagiou P 13 , Palli D 14 , Pala V 15 , Panico S 16 , Tumino R 17 , Vineis P 18 , Bueno-de-Mesquita HA 18 , Peeters PH 19 , Hjartåker A 20 , Lund E 21 , Weiderpass E 21 , Quirós JR 22 , Agudo A 23 , Sánchez MJ 24 , Arriola L 25 , Gavrila D 25 , Gurrea AB 25 , Tosovic A 26 , Hennings J 27 , Sandström M 28 , Romieu I 3 , Ferrari P 3 , Zamora-Ros R 3 , Khaw KT 29 , Wareham NJ 30 , Riboli E 18 , Gunter M 18 , Franceschi S 3

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina 45110, Greece
  • 2 Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
  • 3 International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France
  • 4 Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
  • 5 Department of Surgery, University Hospital Lund, Lund, Sweden
  • 6 Section for Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
  • 7 Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 8 Inserm, Centre for research in Epidemiology and Population Health (CESP), Nutrition, Hormones and Women's Health team, Villejuif, France
  • 9 Cancer Epidemiology Centre, Cancer Council of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  • 10 German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
  • 11 Department of Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrueke, Nuthetal, Germany
  • 12 Hellenic Health Foundation, Athens, Greece
  • 13 Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece
  • 14 Molecular and Nutritional Epidemiology Unit, Cancer Research and Prevention Institute-ISPO, Florence, Italy
  • 15 Department of Preventive and Predictive Medicine, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan, Italy
  • 16 Dipartimento Di Medicina Clinica E Chirurgia, Federico Ii University, Naples, Italy
  • 17 Ragusa Cancer Registry, Azienda Ospedaliera "Civile M.P. Arezzo", Ragusa, Italy
  • 18 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK
  • 19 Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, Epidemiology, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands
  • 20 Department of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
  • 21 Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø, Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
  • 22 Public Health Directorate, Asturias, Spain
  • 23 Unit of Nutrition and Cancer, Cancer Epidemiology Research Program, IDIBELL, Catalan Institute of Oncology-ICO, L'Hospitalet de LIobregat, Barcelona, Spain
  • 24 Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública, Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria, Hospitales Universitarios de Granada/Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
  • 25 CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain
  • 26 Department of Surgery, University Hospital Malmö, Malmö, Sweden
  • 27 Department of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
  • 28 Department for Radiation Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
  • 29 School of Clinical Medicine, Addenbrooke's Hospital, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
  • 30 MRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Br J Cancer, 2015 Sep 01;113(5):840-7.
PMID: 26313664 DOI: 10.1038/bjc.2015.280

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Results from several cohort and case-control studies suggest a protective association between current alcohol intake and risk of thyroid carcinoma, but the epidemiological evidence is not completely consistent and several questions remain unanswered.

METHODS: The association between alcohol consumption at recruitment and over the lifetime and risk of differentiated thyroid carcinoma was examined in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Among 477 263 eligible participants (70% women), 556 (90% women) were diagnosed with differentiated thyroid carcinoma over a mean follow-up of 11 years. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using multivariable Cox proportional hazards models.

RESULTS: Compared with participants consuming 0.1-4.9 g of alcohol per day at recruitment, participants consuming 15 or more grams (approximately 1-1.5 drinks) had a 23% lower risk of differentiated thyroid carcinoma (HR=0.77; 95% CI=0.60-0.98). These findings did not differ greatly when analyses were conducted for lifetime alcohol consumption, although the risk estimates were attenuated and not statistically significant anymore. Similar results were observed by type of alcoholic beverage, by differentiated thyroid carcinoma histology or according to age, sex, smoking status, body mass index and diabetes.

CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides some support to the hypothesis that moderate alcohol consumption may be associated with a lower risk of papillary and follicular thyroid carcinomas.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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