Because alcohol influences metabolism and serum levels of sex hormones and specifically increases metabolic clearance of testosterone, some role of alcohol consumption in the process of prostatic carcinogenesis is biologically plausible. The relationship between prostate cancer and total alcohol consumption was therefore investigated in a case-control study conducted in Northern Italy between 1985 and 1992 on 281 cases and 599 controls admitted to hospital for acute nonneoplastic diseases apparently unrelated to alcohol and tobacco consumption. No noteworthy relationship was found for major measures of alcohol intake: compared with teetotallers, the multivariate relative risks (RRs) of prostate cancer, after adjustment for age, study center, education, marital status, body mass index, and smoking status, were 1.3, 0.9, 1.2, and 1.1, respectively, for men drinking fewer than three, three to less than five, five to less than eight, or more than eight alcoholic beverages per day. None of the estimates was significant, nor was the trend in risk significant. Multivariate risks were also close to unity in the separate analysis of intake of wine (RR = 1.2 and 0.9 for < 5 and or = 5 drinks/day, respectively, compared with wine abstainers), beer (RR = 1.1 for beer drinkers compared with beer abstainers), and spirit (RR = 0.8 for spirit intake compared with beer abstainers). No relationship was observed with duration of use (< 40 and > or = 40 yrs, multivariate RRs = 1.1 and 1.3, respectively), and the alcohol-related risk estimates were similar for men < 70 and > or = 70 years of age.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)