Over Half of Cancer Deaths in US a Result of Lifestyle Choices: Study

A recent American Cancer Society study indicates that approximately 40% of cancer diagnoses and half of cancer fatalities among adults aged 30 or older in the United States can be linked to modifiable risk factors.

These factors, which are typically controllable by an individual, encompass smoking, excess body weight, alcohol intake, physical inactivity, diet, exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and certain cancer-causing infections, as outlined in the report published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

The Most Significant Modifiable Risk Factor Is Smoking

Cigarette smoking was identified as the primary modifiable risk factor, accounting for nearly 20% of all cancer cases and approximately 30% of cancer-related deaths. It was responsible for 56% of potentially preventable cancers in men and 40% in women.

“Despite the significant decrease in smoking rates over the past decades, the number of lung cancer deaths caused by cigarette smoking in the United States is alarming,” Dr. Farhad Islami, the lead author of the report, stated in a press release. “This underscores the need for comprehensive tobacco control policies in every state to encourage smoking cessation, along with increased efforts to improve early detection of lung cancer, when treatment can be more effective.”

Dr. Islami and his team utilized data on cancer incidence, mortality, and risk factors to estimate the number of cancer cases and deaths attributable to each potentially modifiable risk factor. They conducted this analysis for 30 cancer types and examined the details of these risk factors.