A study led by researchers from the American Cancer Society (ACS) found that four in ten cancer cases and about half of all cancer deaths in adults aged 30 and older in the United States can be attributed to modifiable risk factors such as smoking, overweight, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, diet, and infections.
Smoking was by far the leading risk factor, contributing to nearly 20% of all cancer cases and 30% of all cancer deaths. The findings were published in the journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
“Despite the considerable decline in smoking prevalence over the past decades, the number of lung cancer deaths attributable to smoking in the United States is alarming,” said Dr. Farhad Islami, senior scientific director, cancer disparity research at the American Cancer Society and lead author of the report.
“This finding underscores the importance of implementing comprehensive tobacco control policies in every state to promote smoking cessation, as well as increased efforts to enhance screening for early detection of lung cancer when treatment could be more effective.
“Interventions to help maintain a healthy weight and diet can also substantially reduce the number of cancer cases and deaths in the country, especially considering the rising incidence of various types of cancer associated with overweight, particularly in younger individuals.”
Modifiable risk factors include smoking, secondhand smoke; overweight; alcohol consumption; consumption of red and processed meat; low intake of fruits and vegetables, dietary fiber, and calcium; physical inactivity; ultraviolet (UV) radiation; and infection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), Helicobacter pylori, hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8; also known as Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and human papillomavirus (HPV).
The results showed that smoking is the largest risk factor, contributing to 56.0% of all potentially avoidable cancers in men and 39.9% in women.
Overweight is the second largest contributor (7.6%), followed by alcohol consumption (5.4%), UV radiation exposure (4.6%), and physical inactivity (3.1%).
These findings highlight the ongoing need to increase equitable access to preventive healthcare and awareness of preventive measures. Effective vaccines are available for hepatitis B virus, which causes liver cancer, and for HPV, which can cause various types of cancer, including cervical cancer, other anogenital cancers, and oropharyngeal cancer,” added Dr. Ahmedin Jemal, senior vice president of surveillance and health equity science at the American Cancer Society and senior author of the study.
Source: MedicalExpress.com