"A study of U.S. deaths found the impact was most acute among men and people aged 55 years and older."
"The number of cancer deaths estimated to be attributable to alcohol in the United States doubled from 1990 to 2023, particularly among men and people aged 55 years and older, according to a University of Miami study published this month, adding to the body of recent research underscoring the health risks of alcohol consumption.
Around 23,126 people died of alcohol-attributable cancer in 2023, up from 11,361 in 1990, according to the study, which estimated the deaths using a global database of disease mortality and population-level estimates of alcohol exposure.
The impact of alcohol, a known carcinogen, increased over the past decades as cancer mortality decreased overall, according to the study.
“Even though overall the cancer mortality was going down for some of these cancers … alcohol-associated mortality was going up,” said Chinmay Jani, a hematology-oncology fellow at the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and one of the authors of the study. “Which means that alcohol as a risk factor was impacting more cancer deaths in 2023 than it was in 1990.”"
Daniel Wu reports for the Washington Post September 11, 2026.
