Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jun;34(6):533-541.
doi: 10.1007/s10552-023-01681-3. Epub 2023 Mar 18.

Alcohol intake and the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer

Kevin L'Espérance  1   2 , Anne Grundy  1 , Michal Abrahamowicz  3 , Jocelyne Arseneau  4   5 , Lucy Gilbert  5 , Walter H Gotlieb  6 , Diane Provencher  1   7 , Anita Koushik  8   9
Affiliations

Alcohol intake and the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer

Kevin L'Espérance et al. Cancer Causes Control. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the association between alcohol intake over the lifetime and the risk of overall, borderline, and invasive ovarian cancer.

Methods: In a population-based case-control study of 495 cases and 902 controls, conducted in Montreal, Canada, average alcohol intake over the lifetime and during specific age periods were computed from a detailed assessment of the intake of beer, red wine, white wine and spirits. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between alcohol intake and ovarian cancer risk.

Results: For each one drink/week increment in average alcohol intake over the lifetime, the adjusted OR (95% CI) was 1.06 (1.01-1.10) for ovarian cancer overall, 1.13 (1.06-1.20) for borderline ovarian cancers and 1.02 (0.97-1.08) for invasive ovarian cancers. This pattern of association was similarly observed for alcohol intake in early (15- < 25 years), mid (25- < 40 years) and late adulthood (≥ 40 years), as well as for the intake of specific alcohol beverages over the lifetime.

Conclusions: Our results support the hypothesis that a higher alcohol intake modestly increases the risk of overall ovarian cancer, and more specifically, borderline tumours.

Keywords: Alcohol drinking; Beer; Case–control studies; Ovarian neoplasms; Spirit; Wine.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Reade CJ, Riva JJ, Busse JW, Goldsmith CH, Elit L (2013) Risks and benefits of screening asymptomatic women for ovarian cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Gynecol Oncol 130:674–681. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ygyno.2013.06.029 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Reid BM, Permuth JB, Sellers TA (2017) Epidemiology of ovarian cancer: a review. Cancer Biol Med 14:9–32. https://doi.org/10.20892/j.issn.2095-3941.2016.0084
    1. Henderson JT, Webber EM, Sawaya GF (2018) Screening for ovarian cancer: updated evidence report and systematic review for the US preventive services task force. JAMA 319:595–606. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2017.21421 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Menon U, Gentry-Maharaj A, Burnell M et al (2021) Ovarian cancer population screening and mortality after long-term follow-up in the UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS): a randomised controlled trial. Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00731-5 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. IARC (2010) Alcohol consumption and ethyl carbamate. IARC Monogr Eval Carcinog Risks Hum 96:1–1428

LinkOut - more resources