Abstract
BackgroundPublic knowledge of the association between alcohol and cancer is reported to be low. We aimed to provide up-to-date evidence for England regarding awareness of the link between alcohol and different cancers and to determine whether awareness differs by demographic characteristics, alcohol use, and geographic region.MethodsA representative sample of 2100 adults completed an online survey in July 2015. Respondents were asked to identify which health outcomes, including specific cancers, may be caused by alcohol consumption. Logistic regressions explored whether demographic, alcohol use, and geographic characteristics predicted correctly identifying alcohol-related cancer risk.ResultsUnprompted, 12.9% of respondents identified cancer as a potential health outcome of alcohol consumption. This rose to 47% when prompted (compared to 95% for liver disease and 73% for heart disease). Knowledge of the link between alcohol and specific cancers varied between 18% (breast) and 80% (liver). Respondents identified the following cancers as alcohol-related where no such evidence exists: bladder (54%), brain (32%), ovarian (17%). Significant predictors of awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer were being female, more highly educated, and living in North-East England.ConclusionThere is generally low awareness of the relationship between alcohol consumption and cancer, particularly breast cancer. Greater awareness of the relationship between alcohol and breast cancer in North-East England, where a mass media campaign highlighted this relationship, suggests that population awareness can be influenced by social marketing.
Highlights
Public knowledge of the association between alcohol and cancer is reported to be low
Bowden et al [12] found a significant association between excess alcohol consumption and not perceiving alcohol as an important risk factor for cancer, with higher consumption being associated with lower perception of risk
Only one in two people in our study recognised the link between alcohol and cancer in general and, when specific cancer types were considered, only one in five people were aware of the link to breast cancer, two in five were aware of the link to colon and rectal cancer and one in two of the link to mouth and throat cancer
Summary
Public knowledge of the association between alcohol and cancer is reported to be low. Buykx et al BMC Public Health (2016) 16:1194 about public awareness of cancer warning signs, which has been shown to be low, especially among those who are male, younger people or from lower socioeconomic backgrounds [10]. A recent review of the UK Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines regarding alcohol consumption has resulted in a lowering of the number of alcohol units it is recommended people do not exceed within a given week to 14 units a week for both men and women (1 unit = 7.9 g/10 ml ethanol) [14]. One of the primary justifications given for this reduction was the perceived need for health guidance to reflect the increasing evidence of a dose–response relationship between alcohol and cancer [14]. There has been no recent national study on the extent to which the general population are already aware of the relationship between alcohol and cancer against which the impact of such information campaigns could be assessed
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