Alcohol consumption and socioeconomic status associated with the risk of kidney cancer in a large Australian cohort study

Studies have shown an inverse association between alcohol consumption and kidney cancer risk. We postulate that this inverse association may be further influenced by other risk factors. We used an Australian cohort, the 45 and Up Study, recruited between 2005 and 2009 to investigate the association between alcohol consumption, and other potential risk factors and kidney cancer incidence. The median follow-up was 5.4 years. Of the 267,357 participants aged ≤45 years living in New South Wales, 497 were diagnosed with kidney cancer. There was a significant inverse association between alcohol consumption and risk of kidney cancer (P = .027), and a significant inverse dose–response relationship (P = .011). There was a significant interaction between alcohol consumption and socioeconomic status (P interaction = .001). Participants residing in higher socioeconomic areas (the two most advantaged quintiles) who consumed 8–10 drinks or greater than 10 drinks per week, respectively, had a lower risk of kidney cancer compared to the group who consumed 1–4 drinks per week (hazard ratio (HR) 0.34, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.15–0.76, HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.31–0.83) with a dose–response trend of HR 0.62 (95% CI 0.42–0.93) per 7 drink increase in weekly alcohol consumption. There could be an inverse association between alcohol consumption and risk in those residents in higher socioeconomic areas.