Global Impact of Preventable Cancer: Tobacco, Alcohol, Obesity, and HPV

2023-11-20 11:02:35

In the UK, USA, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, 1.3 million people die from cancer caused by tobacco smoking every year. That’s more than half of the world’s cancer deaths.

The preventable risk factors smoking, alcohol, obesity and human papillomavirus (HPV) infections together cause nearly two million deaths per year and lead to a loss of over 30 million years of life. Smoking tobacco has by far the greatest impact – according to the study in the journal “eClinicalMedicine”, 20.8 million years of life were lost as a result.

The analysis also shows that the problem will worsen significantly over the next 50 years, particularly in low-income countries: There, an increase in new cancer cases is expected by around 400 percent from 0.6 million to 3.1 million per year. In very high-income countries, an increase of around 50 percent is forecast for the same period.

Dr. Ian Walker, executive director at Cancer Research UK, said: “These figures are shocking and show that action at a global level might save millions of lives from preventable cancer. Measures once morest tobacco would have the greatest success.”

But cervical cancer is also a disease that can often be prevented through prevention. Dr. Judith Offman, from Queen Mary University of London, said: “We see what certain countries do well and what they don’t. Worldwide, someone dies from cervical cancer every two minutes. Ninety percent of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. They might be dramatically reduced through comprehensive screening and HPV vaccination programs.”

Which: DOI 10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102289

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