40% of cancer cases tied to modifiable risk factors, study says

LAS VEGAS ( KLAS ) — You’ve heard them all before: stay away from cigarettes, watch your weight, eat an array of fruits and vegetables, and avoid excess alcohol. Now a new study is driving home that point, finding 40% of cancer cases are linked to those modifiable risk factors.

The American Cancer Society recently published a study in its flagship journal citing one in four cancer cases and about half of all cancer deaths in American adults over the age of 30 are linked to our behavior.

“The bad news is that we’re still seeing a lot of cancer and a lot of its preventable, the good news is at least we have things that can prevent it,” Dr. Matthew Schwartz, a radiation oncologist with Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, said.

Perhaps no surprise, cigarette smoking was by far the leading risk factor contributing to 20% of all cancer cases and 30% of all cancer deaths. Excess body weight was another component, especially in things like breast cancer.

“A lot of its attributable to increased estrogen levels and a lot of that is attributed to being overweight,” Dr. Schwartz said.

“Interventions to help maintain healthy body weight and diet can also substantially reduce the number of cancer cases and deaths in the county, especially given the increasing incidence of several cancer types associated with excess body weight, particularly in younger individuals,” Dr. Farhad Islami, the senior scientific director, cancer disparity research at the American Cancer Society, and lead author of the report, concluded.

The study found alcohol consumption was the third highest contributing factor, followed by UV radiation exposure and physical inactivity. Dr. Schwartz said that’s why Comprehensive Cancer Centers have teamed up with other groups across the valley to provide free sunscreen stations, in hopes of reducing skin cancer rates.

He said modest lifestyle changes greatly improve your chances of surviving and things like the HPV vaccine are making a difference.

“We know the HPV virus is related to head/neck cancer, cervical cancer, anal cancer; so a lot of different cancers are hopefully preventable with vaccinations.”

Dr. Schwartz said there is good news however as cancer treatment has advanced.

“Even though we’re still seeing a lot of cancer, I think the good news that people need to know that your chances of dying from cancer have gone down.” He added, “Just from when I started practicing here in Las Vegas, I don’t know, in the last two decades, your chance of surviving cancer went up across the board from about 50% to about 70%.”

If you’d like more information on cancer risk, prevention and screening, go to cancer.org .

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