Alcohol and breast cancer were central to a new study led by researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. The work found that alcohol-attributable cancer deaths in the United States doubled between 1990 and 2023, reaching 23,126 last year.
The findings were first presented as an oral presentation at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting and later published in The Lancet Regional Health—Americas. Chinmay Jani, the study’s corresponding author and chief fellow in hematology and oncology at Sylvester, said the most surprising finding was “the breadth of alcohol’s potential impact across cancer types.”
Women and breast cancer
Among women, breast cancer represented the leading source of alcohol-attributable cancer mortality. For women ages 20 to 54, breast cancer ranked first, followed by colorectal cancer. Jani said, “Although its relationship with liver cancer is widely recognized, its contribution to cancers such as colorectal, esophageal, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancer is less well understood by the public.”
The study used more than three decades of Global Burden of Disease data and found that men and adults age 55 and older experienced the greatest burden overall. Among older men, liver cancer accounted for the highest alcohol-attributable mortality rates, followed by esophageal and colorectal cancers. For men ages 20 to 54, colorectal cancer was the leading alcohol-attributable cause of cancer death.
Gilberto Lopes on risk
Gilberto Lopes, senior author and chief of the Division of Medical Oncology at the Miller School, said, “What this study makes clear is that alcohol-related cancer risk is not limited to one disease or one group of people.” He added, “As physicians and cancer researchers, we have an opportunity to help patients understand that alcohol is a modifiable risk factor and that even small, informed changes can be part of a broader strategy to reduce cancer risk in our community.”
The study also placed the findings in the context of alcohol’s status as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and its links to cancers of the breast, liver, esophagus, colorectum and several head and neck sites. Washington, D.C. recorded the highest alcohol-attributable cancer mortality rates in 2023, while Utah had the lowest.
2023 mortality rates
The new data show a long climb from 11,361 alcohol-attributable cancer deaths in 1990 to 23,126 in 2023. For readers trying to act on the finding, the study points to alcohol as a risk factor that can be changed, but it does not map the rise to a single drinking pattern or dose. The next practical step is patient counseling based on that broader risk, especially for adults 55 and older and for women facing breast cancer risk.
