Table 2.

Adjusted Relative Risks of All-Site and Cancer-Specific Mortality, by Total Alcohol Consumption, in a Pooled National Health Interview Survey Cohort, United States, 1988–2006^a,b

Cancer Site and Drinking Statusc	All Participants (n = 323,354)			Men (n = 138,590)			Women (n = 184,764)
	No. of Deaths	RR	95% CI	No. of Deaths	RR	95% CI	No. of Deaths	RR	95% CI
All-site cancer
Never drinker (referent)	1,958	1		460	1		1,498	1
Former drinker	1,572	1.15	1.05, 1.25	950	1.25	1.09, 1.45	622	1.05	0.94, 1.17
Lifetime infrequent drinker	1,450	0.97	0.90, 1.06	493	1.04	0.90, 1.21	957	0.92	0.84, 1.01
Current drinker
Light	1,669	0.87	0.80, 0.94	874	1.00	0.87, 1.15	795	0.75	0.68, 0.84
Moderate	1,091	0.96	0.87, 1.06	804	1.07	0.93, 1.23	287	0.91	0.77, 1.06
Heavier	622	1.27	1.14, 1.43	377	1.41	1.19, 1.67	245	1.20	1.02, 1.41
P-trendd		<0.001			<0.001			<0.001
Lung cancer
Never drinker (referent)	389	1		131	1		258	1
Former drinker	556	1.17	1.00, 1.37	345	1.14	0.90, 1.45	211	1.14	0.92, 1.42
Lifetime infrequent drinker	396	0.97	0.82, 1.13	150	0.88	0.68, 1.13	246	0.99	0.81, 1.22
Current drinker
Light	449	0.79	0.67, 0.92	253	0.81	0.64, 1.02	196	0.70	0.56, 0.89
Moderate	350	0.85	0.72, 1.01	259	0.85	0.67, 1.07	91	0.83	0.61, 1.12
Heavier	260	1.30	1.07, 1.56	161	1.21	0.93, 1.57	99	1.37	1.04, 1.80
P-trend		<0.001			0.003			<0.001
Lung cancer (never smokers only)
Never drinker (referent)	121	1		33	1		88	1
Former drinker	33	1.15	0.69, 1.91	17	0.90	0.45, 1.79	16	1.31	0.73, 2.33
Lifetime infrequent drinker	51	1.01	0.68, 1.50	20	1.01	0.54, 1.89	31	0.97	0.59, 1.60
Current drinker
Light	34	0.59	0.38, 0.92	15	0.47	0.26, 0.82	19	0.67	0.35, 1.28
Moderate	23	0.93	0.51, 1.71	13	0.52	0.25, 1.08	10	2.03	0.92, 4.46
Heavier	6	0.96	0.38, 2.48	3	0.52	0.14, 1.92	3	1.48	0.41, 5.30
P-trend		0.74			0.31			0.06
Colorectal cancer
Never drinker (referent)	229	1		41	1		188	1
Former drinker	152	1.25	0.97, 1.60	90	1.48	0.95, 2.30	62	1.08	0.76, 1.52
Lifetime infrequent drinker	162	1.06	0.86, 1.32	52	1.24	0.77, 1.98	110	0.98	0.76, 1.27
Current drinker
Light	163	0.86	0.67, 1.10	84	1.05	0.66, 1.67	79	0.74	0.53, 1.03
Moderate	102	1.04	0.78, 1.39	75	1.22	0.78, 1.91	27	0.99	0.59, 1.68
Heavier	42	1.01	0.70, 1.47	25	1.08	0.60, 1.96	17	1.05	0.61, 1.80
P-trend		0.24			0.40			0.33
Prostate cancer (men) or breast cancer (women)
Never drinker (referent)				83	1		228	1
Former drinker				111	1.12	0.81, 1.55	98	1.26	0.93, 1.70
Lifetime infrequent drinker				54	1.00	0.67, 1.48	146	0.90	0.70, 1.17
Current drinker
Light				83	0.93	0.66, 1.30	128	0.75	0.57, 0.98
Moderate				85	1.22	0.86, 1.72	46	1.02	0.66, 1.57
Heavier				22	0.89	0.51, 1.56	31	1.09	0.68, 1.76
P-trend					0.70			0.43

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; RR, relative risk.

^aPooled data from the 1988, 1990, 1991, and 1997–2004 administrations of the National Health Interview Survey, with follow-up through 2006.

^bRelative risks were adjusted for race/ethnicity, education, region, marital status, smoking status (including tertiles of smoking intensity among current smokers), and body mass index, as well as gender (as appropriate).

^cFor definitions of quantity and frequency, see Materials and Methods.

^dP for linear trend based on the adjusted Wald F test; lifetime infrequent drinkers and former drinkers were excluded.