Ohio University, which a Princeton Review survey deemed the nation’s No. 1 party school in 2011, might be associated with the drinking at Athens’ Uptown bars, Halloween Block Party and non-university sanctioned street fests.
But, because of these events, young women at OU who partake in these events might be at a higher risk for breast cancer than those who don’t drink, according to a recent medical study.
The Nurses’ Health Study II, published last month, shows that consuming alcohol at a young age could increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer by as much as 11 percent.
Results in the Aug. 28 study included 1,609 cases of breast cancer and 970 proliferative benign breast disease cases confirmed out of more than 150,000 participants, according to an article published by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
“Breast tissue is particularly susceptible to carcinogens between (a woman’s first menstrual cycle) and first full-term pregnancy,” according to the article.
Because alcohol is a carcinogen, the consumption of it during this time period poses an important question of the increased risk of the disease, said Dr. Graham Colditz, a co-author of the study and professor of surgery and medicine at Washington University School of Medicine.
In the study, funded primarily by the National Cancer Institute, alcohol consumption led to a 16 percent increase in benign breast disease, said Dr. Ying Liu, a co-author of the study and instructor at Washington University School of Medicine.
The co-authors studied registered nurses for 20 years — from 1989 to 2009 — keeping an eye open for breast cancer diagnosis and for precursors of breast cancer.
Doctors involved in the study examined more than150,000 women with no cancer history between the ages of 15 and 30, Liu said.
The amount of alcohol associated with the 11 and 16 percent increases was approximately one drink per day, Liu said.
“One drink was defined as one bottle (or) can of beer, a four-ounce glass of wine or a shot of liquor. The estimated content of ethanol per alcoholic drink was 12 grams,” the article stated.
Although the subjects of the study had no family history of cancer, “we evaluated incidence rates and controlled for or adjusted for other breast cancer risk factors like family history in a first degree relative,” Colditz said in an email.
In Athens County, the cases of breast cancer have appeared at a rate of 113 cases per 100,000 people, while Ohio’s average is 120 cases as of 2009, said Dr. James Gaskell health commissioner of the Athens City-County Health Department.
He added that the risk of acquiring breast cancer nationally affects one in nine women. Typical symptoms of breast cancer include a lump or swelling and skin irritation.
kf398711@ohiou.edu
@KellyPFisher
