History of alcohol consumption and cancer burden in Italy

This decline in alcohol consumption led to substantial declines in cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases including liver cancer, and in all major alcohol related cancers (oral cavity and pharynx, oesophagus, larynx, liver, and also breast) in the last few decades in Italy. However, the favourable trends in alcohol-related mortality in Italy and other Mediterranean countries are not reflected in Central-Northern Europe and the USA. Thus, alcohol remains a major cause of cancer and other diseases in Europe.