Association between alcohol flushing syndrome and cancer

Alcohol flushing syndrome (AFS) is experienced by up to 46% of East Asians. A study aimed to review the risk of cancers in AFS patients, elucidate an exposure-response relationship, and understand the risk associated with alcohol consumption and cancer.
An electronic database search of PubMed, Embase, Scopus and Cochrane Library was performed. Observational studies on AFS effects and cancer risks were included, while studies including patients with existing malignancies were excluded. A total of 18 articles were included in the final analysis with 387,521 participants.
AFS was associated with an increased risk of all cancers (odds ratio [OR] 1.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06-1.34), esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.05-2.05) and gastric adenocarcinoma (OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.14-1.72). Men with AFS exhibited an increased risk of all cancers (OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.13-1.59), but this was not observed in women. All cancer risks were associated with AFS in those who consumed alcohol of more than 200 g of pure ethanol/week (OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.20-2.37) but not those who consumed less than 200 g of pure ethanol/week (OR 1.27, 95% CI 0.90-1.79) or non-drinkers (OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.67-1.47).
The data suggested that AFS is associated with an increased risk of all cancers, particularly esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and gastric adenocarcinoma, but that there were concentration-dependent effects.
Source: Sim W, Pan JT, Chua CWX, Fong KY, Wong SH, Lee B, Oon HH. Association between alcohol flushing syndrome and cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Acad Med Singap. 2024 Jul 30;53(7):420-434.