This is according to research led by Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and published in The Lancet Regional Health Americas.
The finding reframes heavy drinking as a cancer exposure with a measurable body count, and not only a behavioral health concern.
What the Researchers Found
Based on more than three decades of Global Burden of Disease data, the team reported that annual alcohol-attributable cancer deaths climbed from 11,361 in 1990 to 23,126 in 2023. Men age 55 and older carried the largest share of that health burden. The increases showed up across a variety of cancer types, age groups and regions of the country.
The study was first presented as an oral presentation at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting where Dr. Chinmay Jani received the Conquer Cancer Merit Award for the work.
Geography mattered. In 2023, Washington, D.C. recorded the highest alcohol-attributable cancer mortality rates in the country and Utah recorded the lowest.
The Damage Goes Past the Liver
The public’s understanding of alcohol and cancer tends to stop at the liver. The data does not.
Among older men, liver cancer accounted for the highest alcohol-attributable mortality rates followed by esophageal and colorectal cancers. Among women, breast cancer was the leading source of alcohol-attributable cancer mortality.
The pattern shifted with younger adults. For men between ages 20 to 54, colorectal cancer was the leading alcohol-attributable cause of cancer death. Among women in that age range breast cancer ranked first, then colorectal cancer.
He noted that alcohol’s contribution to colorectal, esophageal, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancer is not as understood by the public than its link to liver cancer.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified alcohol as a Group 1 carcinogen. It’s the same category that holds tobacco smoke and asbestos.
Why This Matters for Alcohol Addiction Treatment
The researchers describe alcohol as a potentially modifiable risk factor which places treatment squarely inside the prevention conversation.
But reducing consumption is rarely a matter of deciding to. That is where structured care needs to be implemented into recovery.
Alcohol addiction treatment ranges from medically supervised detox for people with physical dependence, outpatient programs and residential care.
FDA-approved medications including naltrexone, acamprosate and disulfiram are used alongside counseling to reduce drinking.
Dr. Jani noted that the lowest safe dose of alcohol is unknown. He expresses that reducing consumption to the lowest amount feasible for each individual may help lessen the cancer risk and damage to overall health.
What This Means for Treatment Seekers
If cancer risk is part of what is prompting a decision about drinking, that risk is a legitimate reason to seek care. Programs that screen for medical comorbidities and coordinate with primary care or oncology are better positioned to address both concerns at once.
Insurance coverage for rehab under the Affordable Care Act treats substance use disorder as an essential health benefit. This means most marketplace and employer plans cover some level of alcohol treatment. Verifying benefits before admission clarifies what a program will actually cost.
Finding the Right Rehab
Comparing rehab centers on the specifics tends to work better than comparing them on marketing language. Useful questions include whether the program offers medically supervised detox, whether it prescribes AUD medications and which insurance plans it accepts.
Rehab.com’s directory lets you filter treatment centers by location and level of care. You can also filter by insurance accepted and specialty programming.
Each listing includes contact information for the facility. Call
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