Laryngeal cancer and alcohol consumption in Australia.

Whereas lung cancer is strongly associated with cigarette smoking, and upper alimentary tract cancers with both alcohol and cigarettes, the situation has been less clear-cut for laryngeal cancer. This century's time trends in laryngeal cancer death rates in Australia follow those of oesophageal cancer rather than lung cancer. Further, the trends correlate with those for alcohol consumption rather than cigarette consumption. The separate analyses of trends in age-specific death rates for men and women reveal a pattern of laryngeal cancer risk variation between successive generations which is consistent with a causal role of alcohol consumption. Biological mechanisms, and synergism, between alcohol and cigarette consumption are discussed.