Alcohol-related cancer risk awareness and support for cancer warning labelling among adults in Estonia

The aim of this study was to describe alcohol-related cancer risk awareness and examine sociodemographic and alcohol-related variance in attitudes towards implementation of cancer warning labelling on alcohol containers in Estonia.

Nationally representative data from a 2022 cross-sectional survey (n = 2059) among the 15-74-year-old population in Estonia were used.

Descriptive statistics on the prevalence of alcohol-related cancer risk awareness and support for the implementation of cancer risk warning labelling on alcohol containers are presented. Poisson regression analysis was used to investigate whether support for warning labelling varied by sociodemographic variables, individual alcohol consumption and cancer risk awareness indicators.

Study found that 73.2% of respondents associated alcohol consumption with increased cancer risk for one or more cancer sites, but implementation of alcohol cancer risk labelling was only supported by 54%. Women, younger age groups, non-Estonians and those with lower education level expressed higher support for warning labelling, whereas lower support was found among those with high-risk alcohol consumption. As expected, awareness of alcohol-related cancer risk and perceiving individual alcohol consumption as a cancer hazard were associated with support for warning labelling.

These findings emphasise the need for better communication of alcohol-related cancer risks as public awareness on the link between alcohol consumption and site-specific cancer risk was low. Increased awareness of alcohol as a cancer risk factor would potentially build public support for introducing cancer-risk warning labelling on containers of alcoholic drinks.