Cancer: Western life style is a killer

According to the study, Life-style related cancers are more common in richer countries. The five regions with the highest cancer death rates due to such risk factors were Central Europe (82.0 deaths per 100,000 population), East Asia (69.8 per 100,000), North America (66.0 per 100,000), Southern Latin America (64.2 per 100,000) and Western Europe (63.8 per 100,000). The Lancet study also raises the question of whether the political focus should not be placed more on serious prevention despite high government revenues from tobacco and alcohol taxes.

The result of a new analysis of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2019 Study (GBD Study) confirms that half of all cancers in men and one-third in women are due to preventable risk factors. The most important risk factor is still smoking, followed by alcohol. In addition, a high body mass index (BMI), unprotected sexual intercourse and high blood sugar levels also significantly increase the risk of cancer.

The US-team of study authors on the one hand give the share of risk factors in deaths. On the other hand, they calculate the years of life lost in healthy quality of life (DALY). These are particularly high if the cancer occurs at an early age. The team concludes that 4.45 million cancer deaths worldwide in 2019 will be due to preventable risk factors. This represents 44.4% of all cancer deaths. For men, the proportion is 50.6% and for women, 36.3%.

The most common preventable cancers in 2019 were malignant tumours of the respiratory tract (trachea, bronchus and lung). The proportion is 36.9 % for both sexes. For men, this is followed by colon and rectal cancer (13.3%), oesophageal cancer (9.7%) and stomach cancer (6.6%); for women, cervical cancer (17.9%), colorectal cancer (15.8%) and breast cancer (11%).

Cancer, often perceived as "fated" or the result of genetically inherited factors, is now complemented by a distinct component of individual lifestyle, which can at least be inferred from the statistics. These external factors are usually preventable, and other epidemiological studies also show that the proportion of these modifiable risk factors is high.