| Of the seven million worldwide cancer deaths | | | | cancer deaths among men and 830,000 among |
| reported in 2001, 35 percent were attributable to nine | | | | women. Smoking alone is estimated to have caused |
| well-known behavioral and environmental risk factors, | | | | 21 percent of deaths from cancer worldwide. |
| according to an analysis published in The Lancet. | | | | In high-income countries, these nine risks caused |
| Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health | | | | 760,000 cancer deaths. Smoking, alcohol, and |
| (HSPH) and a network of collaborators made the | | | | overweight and obesity were the most important |
| calculation by estimating mortality for 12 types of | | | | causes of cancer in these nations. |
| cancer linked to the nine risk factors in seven World | | | | In low- and middle-income regions, the nine risks |
| Bank regions for that year. | | | | caused 1.67 million cancer deaths. Smoking, alcohol |
| They also looked at how the risks, and the cancers | | | | consumption, and low fruit and vegetable intake were |
| they cause, were distributed over the regions of the | | | | the leading risk factors for these deaths. |
| world. This is the first assessment of the role of | | | | Sexual transmission of human papillomavirus is the |
| health risks in cancer deaths globally and regionally. | | | | leading risk factor for cervical cancer in women in |
| Risk Factor Analysis | | | | low- and middle-income countries, particularly in |
| The researchers analyzed data from the | | | | Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where access to |
| Comparative Risk Assessment project and World | | | | cervical screening is also limited. |
| Health Organization databases to determine the level | | | | Among low- and middle-income regions, Europe and |
| of risk factors in different world regions, and | | | | Central Asia had the highest proportion of death |
| separately for men and women. | | | | from cancer from the nine risk factors studied; 39 |
| They also considered how hazardous each risk factor | | | | percent of 825,000 cancer deaths in the low- and |
| might be. The analysis covered all high-income | | | | middle-income countries of Europe and Central Asia |
| countries together, and separated low-income and | | | | were caused by these risks. |
| middle-income countries into geographical regions: East | | | | The effects were even larger among men; one half |
| Asia and Pacific, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia, | | | | of cancer deaths among men in the low- and |
| Latin America and Caribbean, Middle East and North | | | | middle-income countries of Europe and Central Asia |
| Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa. | | | | were caused by these nine risks. |
| The nine risk factors: | | | | Behaviors and Environments |
| - overweight and obesity | | | | "These results clearly show that many globally |
| - low fruit and vegetable intake | | | | important types of cancer are preventable by |
| - physical inactivity | | | | changes in lifestyle behaviors and environmental |
| - smoking | | | | interventions," comments Majid Ezzati, senior author |
| - alcohol use | | | | of the study and assistant professor of international |
| - unsafe sex | | | | health at HSPH. |
| - urban air pollution | | | | "To win the war against cancer, we must focus not |
| - indoor smoke from household use of coal | | | | just on advances in biomedical technologies, but also |
| - contaminated injections in healthcare settings | | | | on technologies and policies that change the |
| Alcohol, Smoking Play Large Roles | | | | behaviors and environments that cause those |
| More than one in every three of the seven million | | | | cancers," he adds. |
| deaths from cancer worldwide were caused by | | | | The study, "Causes of cancer in the world: |
| these nine potentially modifiable risk factors (2.43 | | | | comparative risk assessment of nine behavioral and |
| million), the researchers found, with alcohol and | | | | environmental risk factors," was funded by the |
| smoking playing large roles in all income levels and | | | | National Institute on Aging and by the Disease |
| regions. | | | | Control Priorities Project. |
| Worldwide, the nine risk factors caused 1.6 million | | | | |