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WHO Europe Fact sheet - 5 facts about alcohol and cancer

This factsheet provides five important facts for policy makers, health professionals and the general public about the links between alcohol consumption and a range of cancer types.

This affects not only people who drink alcohol but also their families, friends and communities.

  1. Alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer

  2. The most common types of cancer due to alcohol are different for men and women

  3. The risk of cancer from alcohol consumption increases from the first drink

  4. Using tobacco as well as alcohol multiplies cancer risks

  5. Cancers due to alcohol consumption are preventable

Find more from WHO Europe

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alcohol and cancer factsheet
WHO Europe 5 facts
Infographic from the Awareness Week on Alcohol related Harm

The 8th Awareness Week on Alcohol related Harm was held from 16th to 20th November 2020. The theme was: Alcohol & Cancer.
Find more from AWARH

AWARH: Alcohol and cancer
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AWARH: Alcohol and Cancer - An Avoidable Risk
AWARH: Alcohol and Cancer - An Avoidable Risk
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Cancer country profiles 2020 – alcohol and cancer
INFOGRAPHIC: Cancer country profiles 2020 – alcohol and cancer

We have created an infographic showing alcohol´s role in cancer deaths in Nordic and Baltic countries compared to Global and European average. Information is based on WHO Cancer country profiles 2020.

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The aim of the WHO Cancer Country Profile is to synthesize the current status of cancer control for each WHO Member States (194 total) as well as by WHO Regions (6 total). These profiles establish an updated country baseline and support monitoring trends toward the achievement of global commitments including Sustainable Development Goal target 3.4 to reduce premature mortality, the Elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem and Global initiative for childhood cancer.

 

Profiles present the burden of cancer: including total number of cases and deaths, leading types of cancer, contribution of select risk factors measured by PAFs (population attributable fraction) and cancer as % of NCD premature deaths.

 

The contribution of a risk factor to a disease or a death is quantified using the population attributable fraction (PAF). PAF is the proportional reduction in population disease or mortality that would occur if exposure to a risk factor were reduced to an alternative ideal exposure scenario (eg. no tobacco use). The term “attributable” has a causal interpretation: PAF is the estimated fraction of all cases that would not have occurred if there had been no exposure.

 

Alcohol data is retrieved from Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health, WHO 2018.

Cancer deaths by ALCOHOL

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