Elsevier

Obstetrics & Gynecology

Volume 102, Issue 6, December 2003, Pages 1336-1343
Obstetrics & Gynecology

Original research
Alcohol consumption and the risk of mucinous and nonmucinous epithelial ovarian cancer

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obstetgynecol.2003.08.008Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

To examine alcohol consumption as a risk factor for epithelial ovarian cancer according to tumor histology.

Methods

We examined total alcohol consumption and consumption of beer, wine, and spirits as risk factors for mucinous and nonmucinous tumors in a population-based, case–control study comparing 761 incident cases of epithelial ovarian cancer with 1352 community controls frequency-matched to cases by age and three-digit telephone exchange. Multivariable, unconditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for mucinous and nonmucinous tumors associated with alcohol consumption. Adjustments were made for age, parity, oral contraceptive use, education, tubal ligation, smoking, and family history of ovarian cancer.

Results

Overall, no association between total alcohol consumption and ovarian cancer was found. However, current heavy alcohol consumption (24 g or more per day) was associated with mucinous (OR 1.93; 95% CI 1.02, 3.65) but not nonmucinous tumors (OR 0.88; 95% CI 0.57, 1.37). The association between heavy current consumption and mucinous tumors was strongest for spirits (OR 8.83; 95% CI 2.89, 27.01) and apparent for beer (OR 2.53; 95% CI 0.86, 7.42). For nonmucinous tumors, no such associations were found for either spirits (OR 1.53; 95% CI 0.58, 4.00) or beer (OR 0.92; 95% CI 0.39, 2.14).

Conclusions

Current heavy consumption of alcohol might be a risk factor for mucinous but not nonmucinous epithelial ovarian cancer. This supports the hypothesis of a distinct etiology for mucinous tumors.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

This analysis is based on the Study of Health and Reproduction Project, a case–control study of contraceptive and reproductive risk factors for epithelial ovarian cancer. Details of this study have been described elsewhere.36, 37 Briefly, cases were women aged 20–69 years diagnosed with incident epithelial ovarian cancer within the 9 months before interview. Between May 1994 and July 1998, 873 eligible women were identified at 39 hospitals around the Delaware Valley. Fourteen physicians did not

Results

Among the 761 cases, 112 (14.7%) were classified as mucinous tumors and 649 (85.3%) were classified as nonmucinous tumors. This histologic distribution is consistent with other studies.22, 38, 39 Table 1 shows the demographic and risk factor data for controls, for all cases, and for cases according to mucinous or nonmucinous subtype. The two case groups were similar except for age and cigarette use. Consistent with other studies,19, 21, 22 women who developed mucinous tumors were younger and

Discussion

In this study, we investigated the association of alcohol consumption with mucinous and nonmucinous epithelial ovarian cancer. Our data suggest that heavy alcohol consumption is associated with mucinous ovarian tumors but not nonmucinous tumors. The association is stronger for current heavy drinkers and might vary according to type of alcohol consumed. In particular, heavy consumption of spirits was more strongly associated with the risk of mucinous tumors than was heavy consumption of beer or

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      The data on the influence of alcohol intake on the risk of ovarian cancer have been inconsistent, with several studies showing no association between risk of ovarian cancer and total alcohol intake [51,52]. One study demonstrated that current heavy consumption of alcohol (24 g or more per day) might be a risk factor for mucinous epithelial ovarian cancer [53]. Caffeine intake has been studied also, and its effects on the risk of ovarian cancer also are inconsistent.

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    Supported in part by the National Cancer Institute grants R01CA61095, R25 CA57703-06A1, and K07-CA80668-01A1.

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