fiddler3 wrote:Here is a link to an msnbc story on recent research results linking alcohol and breast cancer.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24107397/My question is, what does it mean to have an "increased risk of 32 percent?"
Thanks. I am asking this here because I think the article is important, and I am looking for further resolve as I make the lifestyle change of getting rid of the beer...
fiddler3
Good question. We always hear these numbers being thrown around but never how they really apply to you or I as an individual.
The researchers looked at around 184,000 women and compared the risk of breast cancer in these women who were either non drinkers to women who either a) drank less than one drink daily, b) drank one to two drinks daily or c) drank three or more drinks daily over a period of 7 years.
What the researchers found was that compared to non-drinkers, women who drank but consumed less than one drink daily had a 7 percent increase, the women who had one to two drinks had a 31% percent increase and the women who had three or more daily drinks, had a 51% increase in "relative risk".
The study has not been published yet, as it was only just presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 2008 Annual Meeting on April 12-16, so I do not have the exact numbers yet.
However, in general, what that means is (to make numbers easy)...
Lets say there was 100,000 women,
If the non drinkers had 500 cases of breast cancer (from other risk factors), than the second group who drank less than 1 drink a day, had 535 cases, the group who drank one to two drinks, had 655 cases, and the third group who had three or more drinks had 755 cases.
So, per 100,000, the actual risk of getting being diagnosed with breast cancer over 7 years would be
500 for the non drinkers
535 for less than one drink a day
655 for one to two drinks a day
755 for more than three drinks a day
So, using my example (and it may not be perfect without the actual numbers) the relative risk for less than one drink a day is 7% and the absolute risk is 35 more deaths per 100,000.
Now, this gives you and idea of what it means. Without the exact numbers, I can't give you the exact results. If the article is ever published, I will.
In Health
jeff