Is Alcohol Consumption Related to Breast Cancer? Results From the Framingham Heart Study

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Abstract
We studied the relation between alcohol consumption and breast cancer among women in the Framingham Heart Study cohort. A total of 2, 636 women aged 31–64 years provided information on alcohol consumption at the second biennial examination. They were followed for up to 32 years; during this period, breast cancer was diagnosed in 143 of these women. Alcohol intake was also assessed at 10 and 20 years of follow-up and every 2 years thereafter. In analyses using only baseline alcohol intake, the multiple risk factor-adjusted relative risk (RR) estimate of breast cancer for any drinking, compared with nondrinking, was 0.8 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.5–1.1), For three levels of alcohol intake (0.1–1.4 g/da, 1.5–4.9 g/day, and >5.0 g/day), the baseline analyses yielded RRs (vs. nondrinking) of 1.0 (CI, 0.6–1.5), 0.7 (CI, 0.4–1.1), and 0.6 (CI, 0.4–1.0), respectively. In analyses incorporating repeated measures of alcohol, the comparable RRs were 0.9(CI, 0.6–1.4) for any drinking (vs. nondrinking) and 0.7 (CI, 0.4–1.4), 1.1 (CI, 0.7–1.8), and 0.8 (CI, 0.5–1.2), respectively, for the three levels of intake (vs. nondrinking). Alcohol consumption was not associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in this cohort [J Natl Cancer Inst 1989; 81: 31–35]