TY - JOUR
T1 - Alcohol drinking and liver cancer risk
T2 - An evaluation based on a systematic review of epidemiologic evidence among the Japanese population
AU - Tanaka, Keitaro
AU - Tsuji, Ichiro
AU - Wakai, Kenji
AU - Nagata, Chisato
AU - Mizoue, Tetsuya
AU - Inoue, Manami
AU - Tsugane, Shoichiro
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for the Third Term Comprehensive Control Research for Cancer from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Japan.
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - Background: Although alcohol consumption has been recognized as a risk factor for primary liver cancer, it will be informative to summarize relevant epidemiologic data in the Japanese who have characteristic environmental determinants (e.g. hepatitis C virus infection) and genetic traits (e.g. presence of poor acetaldehyde metabolizers). Methods: We systematically reviewed epidemiologic studies on alcohol drinking and liver cancer among Japanese populations. Original data were obtained through searches of the MEDLINE (PubMed) and Ichushi databases, complemented with manual searches. The evaluation was performed in terms of the magnitude of association ('strong', 'moderate', 'weak' or 'no association') in each study and the strength of evidence ('convincing', 'probable', 'possible' or 'insufficient'), together with biological plausibility as previously assessed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Results: Among 22 cohort studies identified, 14 (64%) reported weak to strong positive associations between alcohol and liver cancer risk, 3 (14%) reported no association and five (23%) reported weak to moderate inverse associations; such inverse associations were found mostly in follow-up studies of patients with chronic liver disease (particularly, cirrhotic patients), yet recent studies on patients with chronic hepatitis C presented fairly consistent positive associations. Of 24 case-control studies identified, 19 (79%) showed weak to strong positive associations, whereas the remainder demonstrated no association (n = 4) or a moderate inverse association (n = 1). Conclusion: We conclude that there is 'convincing' evidence that alcohol drinking increases the risk of primary liver cancer among the Japanese population.
AB - Background: Although alcohol consumption has been recognized as a risk factor for primary liver cancer, it will be informative to summarize relevant epidemiologic data in the Japanese who have characteristic environmental determinants (e.g. hepatitis C virus infection) and genetic traits (e.g. presence of poor acetaldehyde metabolizers). Methods: We systematically reviewed epidemiologic studies on alcohol drinking and liver cancer among Japanese populations. Original data were obtained through searches of the MEDLINE (PubMed) and Ichushi databases, complemented with manual searches. The evaluation was performed in terms of the magnitude of association ('strong', 'moderate', 'weak' or 'no association') in each study and the strength of evidence ('convincing', 'probable', 'possible' or 'insufficient'), together with biological plausibility as previously assessed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Results: Among 22 cohort studies identified, 14 (64%) reported weak to strong positive associations between alcohol and liver cancer risk, 3 (14%) reported no association and five (23%) reported weak to moderate inverse associations; such inverse associations were found mostly in follow-up studies of patients with chronic liver disease (particularly, cirrhotic patients), yet recent studies on patients with chronic hepatitis C presented fairly consistent positive associations. Of 24 case-control studies identified, 19 (79%) showed weak to strong positive associations, whereas the remainder demonstrated no association (n = 4) or a moderate inverse association (n = 1). Conclusion: We conclude that there is 'convincing' evidence that alcohol drinking increases the risk of primary liver cancer among the Japanese population.
KW - Alcohol
KW - Epidemiology
KW - Japanese
KW - Liver cancer
KW - Systematic review
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U2 - 10.1093/jjco/hyn108
DO - 10.1093/jjco/hyn108
M3 - Review article
C2 - 18945722
AN - SCOPUS:57249107930
VL - 38
SP - 816
EP - 838
JO - Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology
JF - Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology
SN - 0368-2811
IS - 12
ER -