Alcohol intake and risk of aggressive histological basal cell carcinoma: a case-control study

Aggressive basal cell carcinomas (BCC) are not rare. These subtypes of skin cancer are characterized by an infiltrative behavior and rapid progression. Often, management may be difficult. Recent evidence suggests that minimal UV exposure in combination with other behavioral and/or environmental factors may lead to higher incidence of BCC and, therefore, more risk of aggressive subtypes of this malignancy. Alcohol is a very commonly consumed beverage in Western societies, especially in association with outdoors activities.

To investigate a possible relationship between alcohol intake and aggressive histological variants of BCC.

We designed a prospective study. Patients who underwent surgery for BCC in our hospital were interviewed to collect data regarding alcohol intake. The specimens were reviewed by a pathologist and classified into aggressive and non-aggressive subtypes. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software.

136 patients were included. Of participants with aggressive BCCs, 10 (26.3%) were abstainers, 4 (10.4%) had light consumption, 18 (47.5%) moderate consumption and 6 (15.8%) heavy consumption, while among participants with non-aggressive BCCs, 57 (58.2%) were abstainers, 29 (29.5%) had light consumption, 10 (10.2%) moderate consumption and 2 (2.1%) heavy consumption. In the multivariate analysis we found a positive significant association between alcohol consumption and the presence of aggressive BBCs.

According to our results, alcohol intake may be linked with a higher incidence of aggressive subtypes of BCC.