Drinking alcohol may raise the risk for breast cancer recurrence in some women.

The association seems confined to former breast cancer patients who are postmenopausal or overweight or obese, the researchers noted.

However, drinking moderately (about three to four drinks per week) was not linked to increased risk for all-cause death, and may in fact lower the risk for dying from a non-breast cancer-related health issue, the study suggests.

The observations are reported in the Aug. 30 online edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology by a team led by Marilyn L. Kwan, a researcher at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland.

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