Associations between Alcohol Consumption Patterns and Risk of Multiple Myeloma: A Nationwide Cohort Study in South Korea

Background: Among the potential modifiable risk factors, the association between alcohol consumption and the risk of multiple myeloma remains controversial. We investigated the effects of weekly average alcohol consumption and drinking pattern on the risk of multiple myeloma using a nationwide representative database. Methods: We identified 11,737,467 subjects who participated in the Korean National Health Screening Program in 2009 and 2010. Cox regression analyses were performed to calculate the risk of multiple myeloma according to weekly alcohol consumption, drinking frequency, and amount per session. Results: During a mean follow-up period of 6.8 years after a 1-year time lag, 6,981 subjects (3,921 men and 3,060 women) were diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Compared with nondrinkers, all risk of multiple myeloma was reduced in a dose-dependent manner: mild drinkers [adjusted HR (aHR), 0.89; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.84–0.95], moderate drinkers (aHR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.76–0.91), and heavy drinkers (aHR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.69–0.85). Furthermore, both drinking frequency and amount per drinking session showed inverse association with the risk of multiple myeloma. Conclusions: Our large population-based study suggested an inverse dose-dependent association between total average alcohol consumption and the risk of multiple myeloma, and drinking frequency and amount per drinking session seemed to not differ in their relative contribution to the risk of multiple myeloma. Impact: On the basis of the unprecedentedly large number of study population analyzed in this study, our study provides solid epidemiologic evidence of alcohol consumption on multiple myeloma risk.