A systematic review of alcohol interventions for people with cancer

Background
Evidence suggests that patients living with and beyond cancer continue to engage in risky behaviours such as limited physical activity and risky alcohol consumption. The objective of this systematic review was to establish the extent of the literature around the effectiveness and acceptability of interventions targeting alcohol use for patients living with and beyond cancer.
Methods
Electronic searches were conducted of online databases: PubMed, MEDLINE, and SCOPUS, as well as unpublished theses and reports by charities. Included were studies where interventions were delivered to individuals living with and beyond cancer, where alcohol was either a primary or a secondary outcome. All searches were undertaken in December 2016 and updated in December 2017 to identify additional publications.
Findings
Eight papers met the inclusion criteria for this review. Only one of the included papers reported that participants reduced alcohol consumption at follow-up when compared to control participants. However it should be noted that, six of the eight papers reported secondary analysis of studies where alcohol had not been one of the primary aims in the original study. Studies were quality assessed using critical skills appraisal programme (CASP) checklists and were rated as being of moderate or high quality.
Discussion
There is a lack of interventions which have a focus on alcohol use following a cancer diagnosis. Alcohol use can increase the risk of secondary or recurrent cancer. Therefore, there is a need for more research to explore the potential for interventions to encourage people diagnosed with cancer to drink less alcohol.