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Alcohol consumption and the risk of breast cancer among BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers

Jessica Dennisab, Parviz Ghadirianbc, Julian Littleab, Jan Lubinskid, Jacek Gronwaldd, Charmaine Kim-Singe, William Foulkesf, Pal Mollerg, Henry T. Lynchh, Susan L. Neuhauseni, Susan Domchekj, Susan Armelk, Claudine Isaacsl, Nadine Tungm, Kevin Sweetn, Peter Ainswortho, Ping Sunp, Daniel Krewskiab, Steven NarodpCorresponding Author Information, the Hereditary Breast Cancer Clinical Study Group1

Received 10 March 2010; received in revised form 17 May 2010; accepted 18 May 2010. published online 14 June 2010.
Corrected Proof

Abstract 

Alcohol consumption increases the risk of breast cancer among women in the general population, but its effect on women who carry a BRCA gene mutation is unclear. We conducted a case-control study of 1925 matched pairs of predominantly premenopausal women who carry a BRCA1 or a BRCA2 mutation. Information on current alcohol consumption was obtained from a questionnaire administered during the course of genetic counselling or at the time of enrolment. A modest inverse association between breast cancer and reported current alcohol consumption was observed among women with a BRCA1 mutation (OR = 0.82, 95% CI 0.70–0.96), but not among women with a BRCA2 mutation (OR = 1.00; 95% CI 0.71–1.41). Compared to non-drinkers, exclusive consumption of wine was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of breast cancer among BRCA1 carriers (p-trend = 0.01). Alcohol consumption does not appear to increase breast cancer risk in women carrying a BRCA gene mutation.

a Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

b McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

c Centre Hospitalier de l’Universitaire Montréal, CHUM Hôtel Dieu, Montreal, Canada

d Hereditary Cancer Center, Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, Poland

e BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada

f Departments of Medical Genetics and Oncology, McGill University, Canada

g Section of Cancer Genetics, Department of Medical Genetics, The National Hospital, Oslo, Norway

h Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, NE, USA

i Department of Epidemiology, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

j Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, USA

k Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

l Lombardi Cancer Center, Georgetown University Medical Center Georgetown, Washington, DC, USA

m Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, Boston, MA, Ohio, USA

n Division of Medical Genetics, Ohio State Medical Center, Columbus OH, USA

o London Regional Cancer Program, London, Ontario, Canada

p Women’s College Research Institute, Women’s College Hospital and the University of Toronto, Canada

Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author at: Women’s College Research Institute, 790 Bay St., Toronto, Ontario M5G 1N8, Canada. Tel.: +1 416 351 3765. steven.narod@wchospital.ca

1 Other members of the Hereditary Breast Cancer Clinical Study Group: Barry Rosen, Olufunmilayo Olopade, Fergus Couch, Ruth Gershoni-Baruch, Teresa Wagner, Howard Saal, Wendy Meschino, Amber Trivedi, Dawna Gilchrist, Charis Eng, Jeffrey Weitzel, Wendy McKinnon, Marie Wood, Barbara Pasini, Michael Osborne, Boris Pasche, Taya Fallen, Beth Karlan, Raluca N Kurz, Edmond Lemire, Jane Mclennan, Gareth Evans, Tomas Byrski, Tomas Huzarski, Lee Shulman, Eitan Friedman, Mary Daly, Judy Garber, Andrea Eisen, Louise Bordeleau, Carey Cullinane, Dana Zakalik, Ophira Ginsburg, Rochelle Demsky, Seema Panchal.

PII: S0960-9776(10)00141-4

doi:10.1016/j.breast.2010.05.009