A study by the American Cancer Society highlights the link between cancer and preventable risk factors.
The study found that 40% of US cancer cases and about 50% of all cancer deaths in adults 30 years old and older could be attributed to modifiable risk factors, including cigarette smoking, excess body weight, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, diet, and infections.
Smoking
Cigarette smoking contributed to 68.3% of all cancer deaths attributable to evaluated risk factors in men and 60.2% in women.
“Despite considerable declines in smoking prevalence during the past few decades, the number of lung cancer deaths attributable to cigarette smoking in the United States is alarming. This finding underscores the importance of implementing comprehensive tobacco control policies in each state to promote smoking cessation, as well as heightened efforts to increase screening for early detection of lung cancer when treatment could be more effective,” Dr. Farhad Islami with the American Cancer Society shared in a press release. “Interventions to help maintain healthy body weight and diet can also substantially reduce the number of cancer cases and deaths in the country, especially given the increasing incidence of several cancer types associated with excess body weight, particularly in younger individuals.”
Alcohol consumption
Researchers found that alcohol consumption was the fourth largest contributor to all cancer cases in men and the third largest contributor in women. Approximately 50% of oral cavity and pharyngeal cancers in men and 25% of oral cavity, esophageal (24.2%), and pharyngeal (22%) cancers in women were attributable to alcohol consumption. However, female breast cancer had the largest number of attributable cases (44,180 cases), followed by colorectal cancer in both men and women.
To access the study, click here.