The dose-response relationship between the risk and the joint exposure to drinking intensity and duration was investigated, adjusting for potential confounders, including tobacco smoking.
What did the researchers find out?
For all areas, cancer risk “steeply” increased with increasing drinks per day day, with no appreciable threshold effect at lower intensities, they observed.
For each intensity level, the risk of oral cavity, hypopharyngeal and laryngeal cancers did not vary according to years of drinking, suggesting no effect of duration.
For oropharyngeal cancer, the risk increased with durations up to 28 years, flattening thereafter.