Pre-diagnostic alcohol consumption and postmenopausal breast cancer survival: a prospective patient cohort study.

  • Alina Vrieling
  • Katharina Buck
  • Judith Heinz
  • Nadia Obi
  • Axel Benner
  • Dieter Flesch-Janys
  • Jenny Chang-Claude

Abstract

Study results on the association of alcohol consumption with breast cancer survival are inconsistent, partly due to the use of different survival outcomes. We assessed the association of pre-diagnostic alcohol consumption with survival and recurrence in a prospective cohort study in Germany including 2,522 postmenopausal breast cancer patients aged 50-74 years. Patients were diagnosed between 2001 and 2005 and vital status, causes of death, and recurrences were verified through the end of 2009. Cox proportional hazards models were stratified by age at diagnosis and study center and adjusted for relevant prognostic factors. Alcohol consumption was non-linearly associated with increased breast cancer-specific mortality [e.g., ?12 vs.

Bibliographical data

Original languageEnglish
Article number1
ISSN0167-6806
Publication statusPublished - 2012
pubmed 22961011