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Alcohol, smoking and a high body mass index (BMI) are preventable risk factors for nearly half of all global cancer deaths, according to a new study funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The study, published Thursday in The Lancet, examined 2019 cancer cases and found that 44% of cancer deaths were due to preventable risk factors. The three major risk factors were smoking, drinking large amounts of alcohol, and high BMI. Both male and female patients experienced similar risk factors.
Worldwide, the study indicated that 42% of disability-adjusted life years, or healthy years that a person lost to cancer, were also attributable to those risk factors.
However, the risk factors were different when adjusted for the income bracket of some regions. For low-income countries, unprotected sex was one of the major risk factors, while high-income areas experienced the original three global risk factors.
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Smoking, alcoholism and high body mass index are the three major preventable risk factors for global cancer, according to a new study.
(iStock)
The study used data collected by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Global Burden of Disease project to analyze global cancer deaths and disabilities.
“To our knowledge, this study represents the largest effort to date to determine the global burden of cancer attributable to risk factors, and it provides a measure of the risk-attributable burden for specific cancers at a national, international level. contributes to a growing body of evidence aimed at assessing it globally,” said researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in the study.
“Although some cancer cases cannot be prevented, governments can work at the population level to support an environment that minimizes exposure to known cancer risk factors,” the researchers said. “Primary prevention, or prevention of cancer development, is a particularly cost-effective strategy, although it should be combined with more comprehensive efforts to address the burden of cancer, including secondary prevention initiatives, such as screening programs, and This includes ensuring effective capacity to diagnose and treat people living with cancer.”
The researchers also noted that government policies such as higher taxation and regulation of tobacco products are making “substantial progress”.
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“Behavioral risk factors are greatly influenced by the environment in which people live and individuals with cancer should not be blamed for their disease,” the researchers explain.
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(This story has not been edited by seemayo staff and is published from a rss feed)