It is easy to feel powerless against cancer, but scientific research shows that millions of fatal cancer cases each year could be prevented by applying medical prevention measures, changing lifestyle, reducing occupational risks, and combating environmental pollution.
“This significant study is a comprehensive assessment of preventable cancer cases, which for the first time includes infectious causes of cancer alongside behavioral, environmental, and occupational risk factors,” said Isabelle Soerjomataram, a medical epidemiologist at the World Health Organization (WHO) and one of the main authors of the analysis.
“Fighting these preventable causes is one of the most effective opportunities to reduce the global cancer burden,” she added.
The analysis showed that in 2022 nearly 19 million new cancer cases were diagnosed worldwide. About 38% of diagnoses were related to 30 modifiable risk factors.
Among them are smoking, alcohol consumption, increased body mass index, insufficient physical activity, smokeless tobacco (such as chewing tobacco), the traditional stimulant areca nut, inadequate breastfeeding, air pollution, ultraviolet radiation, infectious agents, and more than ten occupational risk factors.
Smoking and alcohol account for half of all preventable cancer cases
The most important preventable cancer-related risk factor was smoking – it was associated with 15% of all cancer cases that year.
This risk was especially high for men. Smoking was linked to 23% of all new male cancer cases worldwide that year.
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After smoking, the second most important modifiable lifestyle risk factor was alcohol consumption. It accounted for 3.2% of all new cancer cases – about 700,000 diagnoses.
Researchers estimate that tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption together make up nearly half – about 48% – of all preventable cancer cases.
Air pollution also plays an important role, with its impact varying across regions. For example, in East Asia about 15% of all female lung cancer cases were linked to air pollution. Meanwhile, in North Africa and West Asia, air pollution was associated with about 20% of all male lung cancer cases.
Infections were linked to about 10% of new cancer cases. Among women, the largest share of preventable cancer cases was caused by high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause cervical cancer. Although vaccination can protect against many diseases related to this virus, vaccination coverage remains low in many countries worldwide.
“In summary, nearly 4 out of 10 cancer cases worldwide in 2022 could have been prevented by eliminating the risk factors examined in this study,” the researchers write.
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The study was published in the journal Nature Medicine.
