More than 23,000 U.S. cancer deaths in 2023 were attributed to alcohol consumption, more than double the roughly 11,000 estimated in 1990, with researchers finding links across cancers including breast, colorectal, liver and esophageal disease.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
More than 23,000 cancer deaths in the United States were attributed to alcohol consumption in 2023, more than twice the number recorded in 1990, according to a study published Sept. 2 in The Lancet Regional Health—Americas.
Researchers found that alcohol-related cancer mortality increased across most cancer types, age groups and regions of the country over the three decades examined, expanding concern beyond the well-known relationship between drinking and liver cancer.
“The most surprising finding was the breadth of alcohol’s potential impact across cancer types,” lead researcher Dr. Chinmay Jani said in a news release.
“Although its relationship with liver cancer is widely recognized, its contribution to cancers such as colorectal, esophageal, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancer is less well understood by the public,” Jani said.
Jani is chief fellow in hematology and oncology at the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The researchers analyzed approximately three decades of data tracking alcohol as a risk factor for cancer deaths.
Their analysis estimated more than 23,000 alcohol-attributable cancer deaths in 2023, compared with approximately 11,000 in 1990.
Men and adults aged 55 and older accounted for the greatest number of alcohol-related cancer deaths, although increases were identified across a broad range of demographic groups.
The cancers most strongly associated with those deaths also differed according to age and sex.
Among men ages 20 to 54, colorectal cancer was the leading cause of cancer death attributed to alcohol.
For women in the same age group, breast cancer accounted for the largest share, followed by colorectal cancer.
Among older men, liver cancer remained the leading alcohol-associated cancer cause of death, followed by esophageal and colorectal cancers.
Breast cancer was the leading alcohol-linked cancer cause of death among women overall, according to the study.
The findings underscore that alcohol-related cancer risks are not confined to diseases of the liver.
“The most important takeaway is greater awareness that alcohol may affect cancer risk beyond the liver,” Jani said. “These findings highlight alcohol as a potentially modifiable risk factor, and while the lowest safe dose is not yet known, this study suggests that reducing consumption to the lowest amount feasible for each individual may help lessen its impact on cancer risk and overall health.”
Alcohol has long been classified as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
That classification places alcoholic beverages in the agency’s highest carcinogenic-risk category, which also includes tobacco smoke and asbestos, although the amount and nature of exposure differ substantially among those substances.
The new study focused on population-level mortality trends rather than determining that alcohol alone caused any individual cancer death.
Researchers instead estimated the proportion of cancer deaths attributable to alcohol based on established risk relationships and long-term epidemiological data.
Geographic differences were also apparent.
Washington, D.C., had the nation’s highest rate of alcohol-attributed cancer deaths in 2023, while Utah recorded the lowest, according to the analysis.
Senior researcher Dr. Gilberto Lopes, chief of medical oncology at Sylvester Cancer Center, said the results demonstrate that alcohol-associated cancer risk reaches across multiple diseases and populations.
“What this study makes clear is that alcohol-related cancer risk is not limited to one disease or one group of people,” Lopes said in a news release.
“As physicians and cancer researchers, we have an opportunity to help patients understand that alcohol is a modifiable risk factor and that even small, informed changes can be part of a broader strategy to reduce cancer risk in our community,” Lopes said.
The findings add to growing public-health attention surrounding alcohol consumption and cancer risk, particularly for malignancies that many people may not immediately associate with drinking.
While liver cancer has historically received much of the attention, the study identified substantial mortality involving colorectal, breast, esophageal and other cancers.
Researchers emphasized that alcohol consumption represents a potentially modifiable risk factor, meaning individuals can reduce exposure through changes in drinking behavior.
The study does not establish a universally safe threshold below which alcohol carries no cancer risk, and the researchers said additional work is needed to better define how different levels and patterns of consumption influence individual risk.
Still, the sharp increase from roughly 11,000 alcohol-attributed cancer deaths in 1990 to more than 23,000 in 2023 suggests that alcohol’s contribution to U.S. cancer mortality is broader and more significant than many people may recognize.
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