The study found that in 2022, roughly seven million cancer diagnoses were linked to modifiable risk factors ' those that can be changed, controlled or managed to reduce the likelihood of developing the disease. Overall, tobacco smoking was the leading contributor to worldwide cancer cases, followed by infections and drinking alcohol. The findings suggest that avoiding such risk factors is 'one of the most powerful ways that we can potentially reduce the future cancer burden', says study co-author Hanna Fink, a cancer epidemiologist at the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France. Cancer continues to be a leading cause of illness and death worldwide, with cases expected to rise over the next decades if current trends continue. Previous studies2 have estimated that around 44% of global cancer deaths can be attributed to avoidable or controllable causes. Estimates of preventability have mainly focused on the number of deaths rather than...
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