Among adults 30 and older, about 40% of cancer cases and nearly a half of all cancer deaths are linked to preventable risk factors, according to a new study from researchers at the American Cancer Society.
"These are things that people can practically change how they live every single day to reduce their risk of cancer," Arif Kamal, MD, chief patient officer at the ACS, told CNN in an interview on the findings, which were published July 11 in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
Researchers used national data on cancer incidence, mortality and risk factor prevalence to estimate how many cases and deaths are linked to preventable factors. Overall, they looked at 18 modifiable risk factors across 30 cancer types. They found more than 713,000 cases among adults and more than 262,000 deaths in 2019 were tied to preventable factors.
Smoking was the leading risk factor by far, contributing to nearly 1 in 4 cancer cases and 30% of cancer deaths. Excess body weight was the second-most prevalent risk factor, contributing to about 5% of new cases in men and nearly 11% in women. Alcohol consumption, UV radiation exposure, physical inactivity and vaccine-preventable infections including HPV were among the other key risk factors.
A separate study published days earlier found GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy may lower the risk of certain obesity-related cancers among people with Type 2 diabetes.
"Obesity is the tobacco of our age when it comes to cancer risk," Dr. Kamal told Bloomberg in response to the earlier study on GLP-1s and cancer risks.