Alcohol intake and invasive breast cancer risk by molecular subtype and race in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study.

Purpose: Alcohol is an established breast cancer risk factor, but there is little evidence on whether the association differs between African Americans and whites.

Methods: Invasive breast cancers (n = 1,795; 1,014 white, 781 African American) and age- and race-matched controls (n = 1,558; 844 white, 714 African American) from the Carolina Breast Cancer Study (Phases I-II) were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence interval (CI) for pre-diagnosis drinks per week and breast cancer risk.

Results: African American controls reported lower alcohol intake than white controls across all age groups.