Alcohol May Influence Skin Cancer Risk

Evidence suggests that alcohol consumption may have some influence on risk for developing BCC but not SCC. (J Invest Dermatol. E-pub) Consumption of wine and spirits, specifically, appears to increase BCC risk, while beer consumption does not. Results come from an analysis of data on 54,766 people enrolled in the prospective Diet, Cancer, and Health cohort. A total of 2,409 BCC cases and 198 SCC cases were diagnosed (median follow-up was 11.4 years). All hazard ratios (HRs) were multivariate adjusted. While adjustment for exposure to UVR was not possible, analyses were adjusted for factors related to susceptibility to UVR, including sun sensitivity, degree of freckling, and number of nevi.