BACKGROUND: Breast cancer aetiology may differ by estrogen receptor (ER) status. Associations of alcohol and folate intakes with risk of breast cancer defined by ER status were examined in pooled analyses of the primary data from 20 cohorts.
METHODS: During a maximum of 6-18 years of follow-up of 1 089 273 women, 21 624 ER+ and 5113 ER- breast cancers were identified. Study-specific multivariable relative risks (RRs) were calculated using Cox proportional hazards regression models and then combined using a random-effects model.
RESULTS: Alcohol consumption was positively associated with risk of ER+ and ER- breast cancer. The pooled multivariable RRs (95% confidence intervals) comparing >/= 30 g/d with 0 g/day of alcohol consumption were 1.35 (1.23-1.48) for ER+ and 1.28 (1.10-1.49) for ER- breast cancer (Ptrend /= 0.26). Dietary (from foods only) and total folate intakes were not associated with risk of overall, ER+ and ER- breast cancer; pooled multivariable RRs ranged from 0.98 to 1.02 comparing extreme quintiles. Following-up US studies through only the period before mandatory folic acid fortification did not change the results. The alcohol and folate associations did not vary by tumour subtypes defined by progesterone receptor status.
CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol consumption was positively associated with risk of both ER+ and ER- breast cancer, even among women with high folate intake. Folate intake was not associated with breast cancer risk.
BACKGROUND: Epidemiological research on alcohol-related harm has long given priority to studies on harm to the drinker. A limitation with this perspective is that it neglects the harm drinking causes to people around the drinker, and thus, it fails to give a full picture of alcohol-related harm in society.
AIM: The aim was to compare the prevalence and correlates of experiencing harm from the heavy drinking by family and friends across the Nordic countries and Scotland and to discuss whether potential differences match levels of drinking, prevalence of binge drinking, and alcohol-related mortality.
DATA AND METHOD: Data from recent national general population surveys with similar questions on experiences of harms from the drinking of family and friends were collected from Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Scotland.
RESULTS: National estimates of the overall population prevalence of harm from the drinking of family and friends ranged from 14% to 28% across these countries, with the highest prevalence in Finland, Iceland, and Norway and lower estimates for Denmark, Sweden, and Scotland. Across all countries, the prevalence of harm from heavy drinking by family and friends was significantly higher among women and young respondents.
CONCLUSION: This study revealed large differences in the prevalence of harm across the study countries, as well as by gender and age, but the differences do not match the variation in population drinking and other indicators of harm. The implications of the findings for future research are discussed.
INTRODUCTION: The social influence on drunk driving has been previously observed in several countries. It is noteworthy, however, that the prevalence of alcohol in road fatalities is not the same in all countries. The present study aimed to explore whether cultural values and the number of roadside breath tests moderate the link between the perceived drunk driving of one's peers and self-reported behavior.
METHODS: Based on the European survey SARTRE 4, the responses of 10,023 car drivers from 15 countries were analyzed. Two cultural values, "tradition" and "conformism," were identified as possibly being linked to social influence. Country scores for these values were taken from the European Social Survey. The number of random roadside breath tests per inhabitant was used as an indicator of drunk-driving enforcement in each country.
RESULTS: A hierarchical multilevel modeling analysis confirmed the link between friends' drunk driving and one's own drunk driving in all countries, but the strength of the link was much stronger in some countries (e.g., Italy, Cyprus, and Israel) than in others (e.g., Finland, Estonia, and Sweden). Both the measured value of "tradition" and the number of alcohol breath tests were found to moderate the link between friends' and one's own drunk driving.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: European stakeholders should take into account cultural specificities of target countries when designing campaigns against drunk driving.
BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori are major carcinogen of gastric cancer, but the associations among gastric cancer, H. pylori infection status, and alcohol consumption are not fully described. This study aimed to clarify how H. pylori infection status affects the association between alcohol consumption and gastric cancer risk.
METHODS: We selected 949 case-cohort participants from the 18 863 Korean Multi-center Cancer Cohort (KMCC) populations. Gastric cancer incidence inside and outside of the subcohort were 12 and 254 cases, respectively. Seropositivities for CagA, VacA, and H. pylori infection were determined by performing immunoblot assays. Weighted Cox regression models were used to calculate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
RESULTS: Relative to non-drinking, heavy drinking (7 times a week), and binge drinking (55 g alcohol intake per occasion) showed a 3.48-fold (95% CI, 1.13-10.73) and 3.27-fold (95% CI, 1.01-10.56) higher risk in subjects not previously infected by H. pylori. There was no significant association between drinking pattern and gastric cancer risk in H. pylori IgG seropositive subjects. An increased risk for gastric cancer in heavy- and binge-drinking subjects were also present in subjects not infected by CagA- or VacA-secreting H. pylori.
CONCLUSIONS: Heavy and binge alcohol consumption is an important risk factor related to an increasing incidence of gastric cancer in a population not infected by H. pylori.