Drinking Alcohol After Breast Cancer Treatment is Safe

Guidelines for reducing breast cancer risk recommend that women have no more than one alcoholic drink per day.

For their analysis, the research team used data from the Pathways Study, a prospective study of more than 4,500 women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer from 2005 to 2013 at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. It is one of the largest U.S. studies to follow breast cancer survivors to track the relationship between lifestyle changes and outcomes().

Advertisement

After a breast cancer diagnosis, patients are often focused on making lifestyle changes that could help them live longer. Many breast cancer patients have questions about whether drinking alcoholic beverages could lead to breast cancer recurrence.

Hence, the study aimed to provide breast cancer survivors and their physicians with information that can help them make decisions that will improve both their quantity and quality of life.

The new study included more than 3,600 women who had completed a questionnaire about their alcohol use when they entered the Pathways Study at the time of their diagnosis and again 6 months later.

Over the next 11 years, 524 women had a breast cancer recurrence and 834 women in the study died — 369 from breast cancer, 314 from cardiovascular disease, and 151 from other health problems.

Therefore, researchers hope their findings will help clinicians provide accurate information to breast cancer survivors who want to know what lifestyle changes they can make to improve their outcomes.

References:

1. Freudenheim, Jo L. Alcohol’s Effects on Breast Cancer in Women. Alcohol research : current reviews vol. 40,2 11. 18 Jun. 2020.(https://arcr.niaaa.nih.gov/volume/40/2/alcohols-effects-breast-cancer-women)
2. Kwan, Marilyn L et al. Alcohol consumption and prognosis and survival in breast cancer survivors: The Pathways Study. Cancer, 10.1002/cncr.34972. 9 Aug. 2023.(https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.34972)

Source: Eurekalert