Breast cancer is the most common cancer in females. Epidemiological research has shown a dose-dependent association between alcohol consumption and breast cancer incidence in women.
Aim: The purpose of the study was to estimate the relationship between alcohol consumption in Romanian women from Transylvania geographic area and breast cancer risk.
Material and method: We have performed a case-control study on 223 patients with breast cancer, hospitalized in the Oncologic Institute "Lon Chiricuţă", Cluj-Napoca and 211 non-cancer controls, apparently healthy women, from the same geographic area. To achieve this aim we have used a validated food-frequency questionnaire, that included questions about alcoholic beverages consumption.
Results: The results shows a low mean level of alcohol ingestion at both studied population groups: 5.87 g/day ethanol in breast cancer women and 4.79g/day ethanol to controls. The positive association between alcohol intake and breast cancer risk was observed for a modest level of ingestion of over 6.03 g/day ethanol (OR = 1.74, p = 0.04). The increase of alcohol intake is associated with the breast cancer risk increase (chi squared = 8.25, p for trend 0.04).
Conclusion: Reducing alcohol consumption is a potential way to reduce breast cancer risk.