Cancer deaths tied to alcohol doubled between 1990 and 2023

A new study reveals that alcohol-attributable cancer deaths in the United States doubled between 1990 and 2023, highlighting alcohol as a potentially modifiable cancer risk factor. Researchers found that annual deaths rose from 11,361 in 1990 to 23,126 in 2023, with men and adults aged 55 and older experiencing the greatest burden.

Alcohol has been recognized as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, linked to cancers of the breast, liver, esophagus, colorectum, and several head and neck sites. The study, presented at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting and published in The Lancet Regional Health—Americas, also identified concerning patterns in younger adults, with colorectal cancer becoming the leading alcohol-attributable cause of cancer death for men aged 20 to 54 and the second leading cause for women in the same age group.

Brief written by urgent.news from Futurity's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.