U.S. cancer deaths overall have fallen by about 35% over the same time period, according to data from the American Cancer Society.
The International Agency on Cancer Research, a branch of the World Health Organization, classified alcohol as a carcinogen in 1987.
The new research found that in 1991, 2.5% of all cancer deaths in men and 1.46% in women were related to alcohol.
Utah remained the state with the lowest alcohol-related cancer deaths.
In men in this age group, alcohol-related cancer deaths rose by more than 1% every year between 2007 and 2021.
Alcohol-related cancer deaths in the US have doubled over the past three decades, from less than 12,000 annually in 1990 to over 23,000 annually in 2021, according to new research.
According to the study’s authors, deaths among men aged 55 and over were the main cause of the increase.
U. A. Data from the American Cancer Society shows that overall cancer deaths have decreased by roughly 35% during the same time period.
No peer-reviewed journal has yet to publish the findings, which will be presented next week at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.
“This is death, not contracting an illness. Jane Figueiredo, a medical professor at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, who was not involved in the study, says, “We can treat a lot of cancers, and we’re getting better at that, but this is really driving home the point that people are dying from cancer due to alcohol.”.
Breast, liver, colorectal, throat, voice box, mouth, and esophageal cancers were the seven alcohol-related cancers that were the focus of the study. Alcohol has been found to be a contributing factor in a percentage of these cancers, but it is not the cause of all of them.
“People don’t necessarily think of alcohol as a carcinogen like they do tobacco,” said Dr. Michael Siegel, a Tufts University School of Medicine professor of public health and community medicine who was not involved in the study.
But it is. Alcohol converts to acetaldehyde, a carcinogen also present in tobacco smoke, once it enters the body. Alcohol damages DNA and facilitates the absorption of other carcinogens by the mouth and throat.
In 1987, alcohol was designated as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization’s International Agency on Cancer Research. At the time, studies connected alcohol consumption to liver and head and neck cancers, including those of the mouth, throat, voice box, and esophagus. It has since been connected to colorectal and breast cancers.
According to a January report by the former U. A. According to the surgeon general, alcoholic beverages ought to have labels warning of cancer. The WHO states that there is no safe level of alcohol intake.
According to the new study, alcohol use contributed to 2 percent of all cancer deaths in 1991 in men and 1 point 46 percent in women. In 2021, those percentages increased to 1 point 85 percent and 4 points 2 percent, respectively.
Specifically, alcohol-related cancer deaths increased by 56% among men during that same time period. The percentage for women was almost 8%.
Dr. Chinmay Jani, chief fellow of hematology and oncology at the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, co-led the study and said, “It was not surprising that it was higher in men, but it was certainly surprising how much higher in men versus women.”. Jani and his team pointed out that historically, men have tended to begin drinking alcohol earlier in life.
Sex-based drinking patterns, however, seem to be changing. According to studies, a growing percentage of women have started drinking heavily in recent years, and young women binge drink slightly more frequently than men.
In 47 states, men’s deaths from the seven alcohol-related cancers rose, while in 16 states, women’s deaths rose as well. New Mexico residents saw the largest increase in deaths in both groups, with men’s deaths rising by almost 60% and women’s deaths by 18%. Tennessee came in second place for women and Oklahoma for men.
Washington, DDOTC. Massachusetts and New York saw the largest declines for women, while New York saw the largest declines for men. Utah continues to have the fewest cancer deaths from alcohol use.
Those aged 55 and over had the highest cancer death rates. Between 2007 and 2021, alcohol-related cancer deaths among men in this age group increased by more than 1% annually.
“This carcinogen probably doesn’t affect you right away when you’re younger, but as you age, it has an accumulative effect on the body,” Jani said.
Overall, liver, colorectal, and esophageal cancers were the most deadly of the seven alcohol-related cancers in 2021. Liver cancer was the leading cause of death among men. Breast cancer was the issue for women.
According to Figueiredo, “we know that even small amounts of alcohol can affect the breast tissue.”.
The next stage of research, according to Jani, should show how alcohol affects cancer risk differently for different racial and ethnic groups.
According to Jani, “some ethnic groups have lower levels of the enzyme that metabolizes alcohol than others, which means that acetaldehyde, the alcohol carcinogen, is higher in these people.”.
Alcohol consumption in the U. A. According to data from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, it peaked in the late 1970s and declined until the late 1990s. Both drinking and alcohol-related fatalities increased significantly during the pandemic.
According to Siegel, the emphasis of alcohol education should change from encouraging responsible drinking to ensuring that people are aware of the negative health effects that even moderate drinking can have.
“We’re not saying that people shouldn’t drink. “Everyone has the freedom to choose for themselves,” Siegel stated. However, we wish to ensure that they are well-informed and based on facts rather than myths. “”.
