A study by the American Cancer Society, and published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, found that 4 in 10 cancer cases and about half of all cancer deaths in U.S. adults aged 30 and older in 2019 were linked to modifiable risk factors such as smoking, excess body weight, alcohol, physical inactivity, diet, and infections (reported 713,340 cancer cases and 262,120 cancer deaths attributable to these factors).

The study used national data to estimate the proportion of cancer cases and deaths due to modifiable risk factors across 30 cancer types. They found key risk factors included smoking, secondhand smoke, excess body weight, alcohol, red and processed meat, low fruit and vegetable intake, low dietary fiber and calcium, physical inactivity, UV radiation, and infections (e.g., EBV, H. pylori, HBV, HCV, HHV-8, HIV, and HPV).

Of all causes, cigarette smoking was the leading risk factor, causing nearly 20% of cancer cases and contribution to 56% of all potentially preventable cancers in men.

Excess body weight (7.6%), alcohol (5.4%), UV radiation (4.6%), and physical inactivity (3.1%) followed. Some cancer types had over 50% of cases linked to these factors, with cervical cancer and Kaposi sarcoma at 100%.

Lung cancer had the most cases linked to risk factors in both men and women; followed by skin melanoma, colorectal cancer, and urinary bladder cancer in men; and breast, uterine, and colorectal cancer in women.

Good health, including cancer prevention, is not solely based on healthcare funding, or a drug or procedure, or early detection. Good health, if you want it, is multifaceted and based on your individual accountability in making the right decisions the daily activities various parts of of your life.

F Islami et al. Proportion and number of cancer cases and deaths attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors in the United States, 2019. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians (2024). https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.21858