Alcohol drinking and risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Objective: To analyse the relation between alcohol intake and the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Design: Hospital-based case–control study. Settings: The greater Milan area and the province of Pordenone, Northern Italy. Subjects: Cases were 446 (256 men and 190 women) with histologically confirmed incident NHL, and controls were 1295 (791 men and 504 women) with acute non-neoplastic conditions. Results: Compared to non-drinkers, the odds ratio (OR) was 0.92 for <3 drinks per day, 0.98 for 3–6 drinks, and 1.02 for ≥7 drinks per day. Wine drinking was also not associated with risk, and the OR was 0.85 for drinkers of ≥7 drinks/day compared to non-drinkers. Beer and spirit intake was also not associated with NHL risk. Conclusions: Our study, based on a population with relatively high alcohol intakes, indicates that there is no appreciable association between intake of various alcoholic beverages and the risk of NHL.