Smoking, alcohol, high BMI leading causes of global cancer deaths: Lancet study

August 19, 2022 08:57

Smoking, alcohol use, high body mass index (BMI), and other known risk factors were responsible for nearly 4.45 million global cancer deaths in 2019, according to study published in The Lancet journal on Friday.

The findings can help policymakers and researchers identify key risk factors that could be targeted in efforts to reduce deaths and ill health from cancer regionally, nationally, and globally.

"This study illustrates that the burden of cancer remains an important public health challenge that is growing in magnitude around the world," said Christopher Murray, Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, US.

"Smoking continues to be the leading risk factor for cancer globally, with other substantial contributors to cancer burden varying," said Murray, a co-senior author of the study.

Using results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) 2019 study, the researchers investigated how 34 behavioural, metabolic, and environmental and occupational risk factors contributed to deaths and ill health due to 23 cancer types in 2019.

Changes in cancer burden between 2010 and 2019 due to risk factors were also assessed.

Estimates of cancer burden were based on mortality and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), a measure of years of life lost to death and years lived with disability.

In addition to 4.45 million cancer deaths which made up 44.4 per cent of all cancer deaths in 2019, risk factors included in the analysis accounted for 105 million cancer DALYs globally for both sexes in 2019 -- 42.0 per cent of all DALYs in that year, the researchers said.

Behavioural risk factors such as tobacco use, alcohol use, unsafe sex, and dietary risks were responsible for the vast majority of cancer burden globally, accounting for 3.7 million deaths and 87.8 million DALYs in 2019, they said.

The study shows that almost 2.88 million deaths in men (50.6 per cent of all male cancer deaths) could be attributed to the risk factors studied, compared to 1.58 million deaths in women (36.3 per cent of all female cancer deaths).

The leading risk factors globally for cancer deaths and ill health for both sexes were smoking, followed by alcohol use and high BMI, the researchers said.

The leading cause of risk-attributable cancer death for both men and women globally was tracheal, bronchus, and lung cancer, which accounted for 36.9 per cent of all cancer deaths attributable to risk factors, they said. -- PTI

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