ASPO Abstracts
Cocaine use and risk of head and neck cancer: a pooled analysis in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) Consortium
Category: Lifestyles Behavior, Energy Balance & Chemoprevention
Conference Year: 2023
Abstract Body:
Purpose: Cocaine is used globally as a recreational drug; however, little information was available on whether cocaine use alters risk of head and neck cancer (HNC). We conducted this pooled analysis to evaluate the association between cocaine use and HNC. Methods: A pooled analysis was conducted comprising individual-level data from 3 case-control studies in the INHANCE consortium. Self-reported information on cocaine use (smoking and other administrations through the airway), socio-demographic, and behavioral factors was obtained from 1641 HNC cases and 2506 controls. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were estimated using random-effects logistic regression models. Results: After adjusting for potential confounders, ever life-time cocaine use was associated with HNC (OR = 1.35, 95% CI: 0.96, 1.90). In the stratified analyses, while we did not detect associations among non-tobacco users or non-drinkers, the positive association was still observed among tobacco users (OR = 1.42, 95% CI: 0.98, 2.06) and alcohol drinkers (OR = 1.34, 95% CI: 0.93, 1.92). Conclusions: We observed a weak to moderate positive association between cocaine use and HNC risk within the INHANCE consortium. Although we tried to take advantage of the large sample size of the consortium, we were unable to verify the association among non-tobacco users or non-drinkers due to sample size. The observed associations should be explored in future studies.
Keywords: Keywords: head and neck cancer, drug abuse, cocaine use