Prospective study of alcohol drinking and renal cell cancer risk in a cohort of Finnish male smokers

Of the few studies that have examined alcohol consumption in relation to risk of renal cell cancer (RCC), most are case-control studies. The extent to which alcohol affects RRC risk is unclear. We prospectively examined the association between total alcohol intake as well as specific types of alcoholic beverage and RCC in a large cohort of Finnish male smokers. Men from the Alpha-Tocopherol, BetaCarotene (ATBC) Cancer Prevention Study were followed for 12 years and RCC cases were identified. Alcohol consumption was assessed at baseline using a questionnaire previously shown to be both reproducible and valid. Cox proportional hazards modeling was used to adjust simultaneously for known or suspected risk factors for RCC. We ascertained 195 incident cases of RCC. In multivariate analysis, the relative risks and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of RCC according to increasing quartiles of total alcohol intake were 1.0, 0.91 (0.62-1.33), 0.94 (0.64-1.38), and 0.53 (0.34-0.83), respectively (P value for trend = 0.005); for spirit consumption, 1.0, 0.93 (0.63-1.39), 0.84 (0.58-1.20), and 0.55 (0.36-0.85) (P for trend = 0.02); and for beer intake, 1.0, 1.22 (0.85-1.76), 0.83 (0.57-1.22), and 0.55 (0.36-0.85) (P for trend = 0.003). Too few people in this cohort drank wine to assess its association with risk of RCC. These data suggest that alcohol consumption is associated with decreased risk of RCC in male smokers. Because most of the risk reductions were seen at the highest quartile of alcohol intake and alcohol is a risk factor for a number of cancers particularly among smokers, these data should be interpreted with caution.