Preventing cancer with what we know now.

Cancer deaths exceed seven million worldwide each year, despite overwhelming evidence that many malignancies are preventable. Survival rates are improving, but nearly half a million people die from cancer each year in the United States (US) alone. Cancer outranks cardiovascular disease as the number one cause of death in the US for those under the age of 85.

Both screening and prevention can reduce mortality from cancer. Screening detects abnormalities before they are clinically apparent, allowing for intervention either before cancer develops or at an early stage, when treatment is most often effective. Prevention strategies focus on modifying environmental and lifestyle risk factors which promote cancer. It is estimated that more than 50 percent of cancer is preventable.

Multiple cancer risk factors have been identified; tobacco use, excess weight, poor diet, and inactivity account for two-thirds of all cancers in the United States. Nine modifiable risks cause more than 35 percent of cancer deaths worldwide: smoking, alcohol use, diet low in fruit and vegetables, excess weight, inactivity, unsafe sex, urban air pollution, use of solid fuels, and contaminated injections in health-care settings. Lifestyle factors cause a variety of malignancies, including the most common in the developed world: lung, colorectal, prostate, and breast cancer.

The major modifiable cancer risk factors include: smoking cigarettes, lack of physical activity, overweight and obesity, unhealthy diet, excess alcohol intake, excess sun exposure, infections such as the HPV and Hepatitis C viruses, and failure to use regular screening tests (such as colon cancer screening, the PAP smear for cervical cancer).

Lifestyle issues which promote cancer are also risk factors for other diseases, such as stroke, heart disease, and diabetes.

You can assess your risk of cancer and these other chronic disease as well as get suggestion on ways to reduce your risk. Visit Your Disease Risk at www.yourdiseaserisk.wustl.edu