Alcohol drinking cessation and the risk of laryngeal and pharyngeal cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Systematic review and meta-analysis of case-control studies
PubMed 23469267 · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0058158
What was done
A systematic literature review and meta-analysis was conducted across 9 case-control studies (providing 4 estimates for laryngeal cancer and 8 for pharyngeal cancer). The generalized least squares method was applied to dose-response data to model changes in cancer risk after alcohol cessation.
What was found
Alcohol cessation was associated with an average 2% annual reduction in the risk of developing laryngeal and pharyngeal cancers, and approximately a 15% reduction in alcohol-related elevated risk after 5 years of cessation. The elevated risk was reversible, requiring an estimated 36 years (95% CI 11–106) for laryngeal cancer and 39 years (95% CI 13–103) for pharyngeal cancer to equal the risk of never drinkers. Substantial heterogeneity was observed among pharyngeal cancer studies, largely driven by two studies.
Why it matters
This meta-analysis demonstrates that alcohol-related upper aerodigestive cancer risk is reversible, establishing that meaningful risk reduction occurs in the short term (5–10 years) despite complete normalization taking decades.
Limits
All included studies were retrospective case-control designs subject to recall bias and residual confounding. The total participant sample size was not reported in the abstract. Estimates for complete risk reversal had very wide confidence intervals, and significant heterogeneity was present among pharyngeal cancer datasets.
Cited by
- supports After quitting alcohol, the elevated risk of laryngeal and pharyngeal cancers does not return to the baseline level of never-drinkers until 36 and 39 years, respectively.