Health Update: Health Update: More than one-third of cancer cases are preventable, study finds – What Experts Say– What Experts Say.
A study in Nature Medicine found more than one-third of cancer cases are preventable with certain lifestyle changes.
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Staff video, USA TODAY
Good news for those who want to lower their risk of cancer − a new study found more than one-third of cases are preventable with certain lifestyle changes.
In the study, published Feb. 3 in Nature Medicine, researchers found an estimated 7.1 million of 18.7 million new cancer cases in 2022 − about 37.8% − were attributable to 30 modifiable risk factors.
Some of those risk factors include tobacco use, alcohol consumption, high body mass index, insufficient physical activity, air pollution, ultraviolet radiation and infections like hepatitis B, hepatitis C, Epstein–Barr virus and human papillomavirus, or HPV.
“This is the first global analysis to show how much cancer risk comes from causes we can prevent,” Dr. André Ilbawi, study author and WHO Team Lead for Cancer Control, said in a news release. “By examining patterns across countries and population groups, we can provide governments and individuals with more specific information to help prevent many cancer cases before they start.”
The study used data from cancer database GLOBOCAN to analyze dozens of cancers in 185 countries.
The leading risk factors were smoking tobacco, followed by infections and alcohol consumption, which were responsible for 3.3 million, 2.3 million and 700,000 of all new cancer cases, respectively.
Of all cancer types studied, lung cancer had the largest number of cases, with 1.8 million attributable to modifiable risk factors. These cases were largely attributable to smoking and air pollution, according to the study.
Lung cancer was followed by stomach cancer at 784,073 cases, largely attributed to Helicobacter pylori infections of the stomach, and cervical cancer at 662,044 cases, attributed to HPV infections.
The authors noted these factors underscore the “critical importance of prevention in reducing the globalcancer burden.”
This isn’t the first time science has pointed to modifiable risk factors impacting cancer.
Previous research has looked at preventable cancer deaths, including a 2024 American Cancer Society study that found 44% of cancer deaths in people 30 and over could be avoided if people cut out high-risk behaviors, such as smoking and drinking.