Alcohol use and prostate cancer in U.S. whites: no association in a confirmatory study.

Background: In a recent study among U.S. men with prostate cancer, alcohol consumption was associated with an increase in prostate cancer risk. This finding could have considerable public health implications. We therefore set out to confirm the reported association in a study of comparable scale, using the same alcohol exposure categories.

Methods: The association was evaluated in a case-control study of 699 white prostate cancer cases and 2,041 matched controls, admitted between 1977-1991 to 20 U.S. hospitals.

Results: No association was seen between prostate cancer and alcohol intake comparing ever, current, and former to never drinkers, not even for the highest reported level of alcohol consumption.

Conclusions: Our failure to confirm the reported association agrees with the findings of most studies that, within a wide range of alcohol intake, there is no relation between alcohol consumption and prostate cancer. However, some studies suggest that alcoholics may have an increased prostate cancer risk. This needs further exploration.