Drinking alcohol makes no impact on a woman’s chances of surviving breast cancer – and moderate drinkers might actually benefit because of a reduced risk from heart disease.
New research published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology suggests that moderate amounts of wine before and after diagnosis of breast cancer are not linked to reduced life expectancy for women.
Dr Polly Newcomb, of the Public Health Sciences Division and head of the Cancer Prevention Program at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, USA, and who led the study, said: “Our findings should be reassuring to women who have breast cancer because their past experience consuming alcohol will not impact their survival after diagnosis.
“This study also provides additional support for the beneficial effect of moderate alcohol consumption with respect to cardiovascular disease.”
The study was based on data from almost 23,000 women who took part in the Collaborative Breast Cancer Study, which began in 1988 and was conducted in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Wisconsin.
In a follow-up study that took place between 1998 and 2001, about 5,000 participants were sent a questionnaire about their alcohol consumption habits after diagnosis.
They found that the amount and type of alcohol a woman reported consuming in the years before her diagnosis was not associated with her likelihood from dying from breast cancer but that those who drank between 3 and 6 drinks a week in the years before their cancer diagnosis were 15% less likely to die from heart disease and stroke than non-drinkers.
Moderate wine consumption was linked with a lower risk of heart disease and stroke mortality, but there was no benefit among drinkers of beer or spirits, or for heavier levels of alcohol consumption.
The amount and type of alcohol a woman consumed after diagnosis did not appear to be associated with survival of breast cancer, but those who consumed alcohol in moderation experienced a 39- to 50% lower mortality rate from heart disease and stroke.
Dr Newcomb said the difference in alcohol’s impact on developing breast cancer risk and on survival from the disease could be that “the kind of breast cancer that is more likely to be diagnosed among women who drink may be more responsive to hormone-reduction therapies”.
Newcomb P et al. Alcohol Consumption Before and After Breast Cancer Diagnosis: Associations with Survival From Breast Cancer; Cardiovascular Disease and Other Causes. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 8 April 2013.
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