VICTORIA — A paper led by researchers at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria links alcohol use to pancreatic cancer. The study found a dose-response relationship between pancreatic cancer and alcohol consumption after adjusting for confounding factors.

Consuming more than 24 grams of alcohol per day, which is equivalent to slightly less than two standard Canadian drinks, was associated with a 10 to 30 percent increase in pancreatic cancer risk. Tim Naimi, director and study author, said, "There has been a growing body of evidence pointing to alcohol consumption as a cause of pancreatic cancer, and this analysis is a significant contribution to that evidence." He added, "Right now, the World Health Organization lists seven types of cancer, including mouth, breast and colon cancer, as being linked to alcohol consumption."

The research team conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of existing cohort studies to examine the link between alcohol intake and pancreatic cancer. The authors controlled for factors such as former drinker bias, age, smoking, and socioeconomic status. Jinhui Zhao, a scientist at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research and the lead author of the paper, said, "Often people who identify as abstainers in these cohort studies used to be heavy drinkers who quit due to health reasons, meaning they may still be feeling long-term effects of alcohol use, including cancer cases."

Zhao added, "There has been a push in recent years to take this bias into account to truly measure alcohol’s health impacts." Naimi said, "After rigorously analyzing the existing evidence, we strongly believe it’s time to add pancreatic cancer to the list of alcohol-related cancers."

The paper was published in the International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research. Approximately 12 percent of Canadians survive five years after a pancreatic cancer diagnosis. The paper's digital object identifier is 10.7895/ijadr.649.