• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Nearly half of all cancer deaths could be prevented, study says

Home> News

Published 17:26 3 Sep 2022 GMT+1

Nearly half of all cancer deaths could be prevented, study says

Researchers from the University of Washington’s School of Medicine explored the link between risk factors like smoking and cancer deaths

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

A new study has found that almost half of all cancer deaths could be avoided, having studied nearly 10 years’ worth of data to identify some of the world’s biggest ‘risk factors’. 

In the study, which was published in The Lancet last month, a team of researchers explored how cancer deaths can be linked to a number of avoidable risk factors, such as smoking, drinking alcohol and being overweight. 

Smoking was listed as the leading cancer risk factor worldwide, but experts stressed that other ‘substantial contributors to cancer burden’ vary across the globe. 

The researchers from the University of Washington’s School of Medicine found that these combined factors contributed to nearly 4.45 cancer deaths a year – the equivalent of 44 percent of all such deaths. 

Advert

In total, just over half (50.6 percent) of all male cancer deaths in 2019 were due to risk factors, compared to around a third of all female cancer deaths (36.3 percent). 

Researchers said smoking was the leading cancer risk factor.
Valentin Ilas/Alamy Stock Photo

While cancer is a leading cause of death - second after heart disease worldwide - this is the first study to examine a multitude of factors on a global level, according to its authors.

Christopher Murray, MD, DPhil, co-senior author and IHME director, said in a statement: “This study illustrates that the burden of cancer remains an important public health challenge that is growing in magnitude around the world. Smoking continues to be the leading risk factor for cancer globally, with other substantial contributors to cancer burden varying." 

For the study, which was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the team used data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) 2019 study to estimate ‘cancer burden attributable to behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risk factors’. 

Advert

Just over half of all male cancer deaths in 2019 were due to risk factors.
Andrew Aitchison/Alamy Stock Photo

The researchers said their findings highlighted that a ‘substantial proportion of cancer burden globally has potential for prevention through interventions aimed at reducing exposure to known cancer risk factors’, but that also ‘a large proportion of cancer burden might not be avoidable through control of the risk factors currently estimated’. 

“Thus, cancer risk reduction efforts must be coupled with comprehensive cancer control strategies that include efforts to support early diagnosis and effective treatment,” they wrote. 

“Most attributable cancer DALYs [disability-adjusted life years] were accounted for by behavioural risk factors, such as tobacco use, alcohol use, unsafe sex, and dietary risks, suggesting a need for concerted efforts to address behavioural risk factors to effectively reduce cancer burden globally.” 

Featured Image Credit: Jezper/PHOVOIR/Alamy Stock Photo

Topics: Health, Science

Jess Hardiman
Jess Hardiman

Jess is Entertainment Desk Lead at LADbible Group. She graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

X

@Jess_Hardiman

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

2 hours ago
3 hours ago
5 hours ago
  • 2 hours ago

    Dad responds after being branded 'lazy cheat' taking the 'easy way out' over 6st Mounjaro weight loss

    George Keywood has lost almost 40kg on the medication so far

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Woman diagnosed with ADHD at 28 reveals commonly asked question that's a red flag you have the condition

    Over two million people are said to be living with undiagnosed ADHD

    News
  • 3 hours ago

    Brits face ban from Spanish restaurants over new tourism rule

    Restaurants in the Spanish hotspot of Mallorca are uniting and making a stand

    News
  • 5 hours ago

    Security expert issues chilling warning over how AI could be used to attack UK and explains the 'most difficult problem'

    There are seven main terrorism-related threats posed by AI

    News
  • Humans could become 'immune to obesity' as new study says we need to 'delete' part of our bodies
  • Vaping could be worse than smoking cigarettes, according to author of world-first study
  • Experts issue stark warning over ‘Monday blues’ as phenomenon could have very real threat to your health
  • Three generations of family nearly died after eating vegetables that left their blood 'chocolate coloured'