Abstract 5740: Alcoholic beverage consumption and the incidence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the Cancer Prevention Study-II (CPS-II) Nutrition Cohort
Authors: Gapstur Susan M. , Diver W. Ryan , McCullough Marjorie L. , Thun Michael J. , Patel Alpa V. 
Published: February 2011

Results of several case-control studies suggest an inverse association between alcohol consumption and risk of NHL, and potential differences in the strength of association across histologic subtypes. However, this relationship has been examined in few prospective cohort studies and of these, two included only women. Furthermore, most cohort studies had too few cases to explore potential differences in association according to histologic subtypes, gender and other factors. Using data from the large American Cancer Society CPS-II Nutrition Cohort, we examined the association of self-reported alcohol intake with the incidence of NHL in men and in women, and in ever and never smokers. We also examined associations according to specific NHL subtypes. Among the 70,424 men and 78,019 women included in this analysis, 1,120 male and 865 female incident cases of lymphoma were identified during the follow-up period (1992-2007). Multivariable-adjusted relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were computed using Cox proportional hazards regression controlling for age, race/ethnicity, smoking status, family history of hematopoietic cancer, education, body mass index, height and physical activity (METS). For men, the RR (95% CI) estimates for all NHL subtypes combined associated with consumption of &gt;0-&lt;1, 1-2, and &gt;2 drinks per day compared to non-drinkers were 0.94 (0.82-1.08), 0.90 (0.74-1.08), and 0.80 (0.66-0.98) (p-trend=0.04). The corresponding RR (95% CI) estimates were similar for women (i.e., 0.92 (0.80-1.07), 0.87 (0.66-1.15) and 0.68 (0.47-0.99) (p-trend=0.04)). There was no effect modification of this association by gender (p for interaction=0.93). In addition, there was no effect modification by smoking status (p for interaction=0.76). In analyses of specific NHL subtypes, a statistically significant inverse association was observed for B-cell lymphomas, which comprised the majority of NHL neoplasms (i.e., &gt;90%). For men and women combined, the RRs (95% CIs) for B-cell lymphoma associated with consumption of &gt;0-&lt;1, 1-2, and &gt;2 drinks per day compared to non-drinkers were 0.96 (0.86-1.06), 0.91 (0.77-1.07) and 0.76 (0.64-0.92) (p-trend=0.004). However, we also observed non-significant inverse associations of alcohol intake with nearly all NHL subtypes. In summary, results from this large prospective cohort study support previous reports from other studies showing an inverse association between alcohol intake and the incidence of lymphoma in men and in women. They also suggest no meaningful differences in the nature of the association of alcohol intake with the incidence of specific histologic subtypes of lymphoma, or by smoking status.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5740.