INCREASED CANCER RISK AMONG SWEDISH FEMALE ALCOHOLICS

We evaluated site-specific cancer risks in alcoholic women. We identif ied 15,508 alcoholic women from the records of the Temperance Boards i n Sweden and obtained a comparison group by selecting for each alcohol ic woman one female individual matched for region and dag of birth. We obtained incidence data from the Swedish Cancer Registry. We found an increased relative risk (RR) for any cancer [RR = 1.6; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.5-1.8]; site-specific risks were increased for tong ue (RR = 8.5; 95% CI = 2.0-37), mouth (RR = 12; 95% CI = 1.6-92), tons il (RR = 11; 95% CI = 1.4-85), hypopharynx (RR = 9.0; 95% CI = 1.1-71) , larynx (RR = 7.0; 95% CI = 0.9-57), liver (RR = 4.6; 95% CI = 1.8-12 ), pancreas (RR = 2.7; 95% CI = 1.6-4.6), lung (RR = 5.0; 95% CI = 3.3 -7.5), breast (RR = 1.4; 95% CI = 1.2-1.7), cervix uteri (RR = 3.9; 95 % CI = 2.8-5.4), and vulva, vagina, and unspecified female genital org ans (RR = 4.0; 95% CI = 1.3-12). We found a decreased risk for maligna nt melanoma of the skin (RR = 0.5; 95% CI = 0.3-1.0). Since this was a register study, the results may be confounded by differences in smoki ng, dietary habits, and/or other factors in the cohort of alcoholic wo men and the comparison group.