Study: Almost half of cancer deaths are due to risk factors such as smoking

According to a large-scale study, almost half of all cancer deaths worldwide can be attributed to certain risk factors, in particular the consumption of tobacco and alcohol. According to the study published on Friday by the journal The Lancet, 44.4 percent of cancer deaths can be attributed to such risk factors. The largest single factor is smoking with a share of 33.9 percent, followed by alcohol with 7.4 percent.

The study was conducted as part of the Global Burden of Disease project and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It basically confirms already known facts about  cancer . However, thanks to the thousands of scientists involved, it puts the findings on a much broader basis.

According to the authors, the study results speak in favor of strengthening health prevention measures such as anti-addiction programs, since many cancer factors are behaviors that can be changed or avoided. 

According to the authors of the study, the fact that more than half of all cancer deaths worldwide are not attributable to specific risk factors shows that health prevention alone is not enough in the fight against cancer. To combat these cases, two factors must be addressed: early cancer detection and effective therapies.

In an independent commentary on the study, which was also published in The Lancet, the two epidemiologists Diana Sarfati and Jason Gurney fundamentally confirmed the study findings and underlined the importance of prevention. At the same time, however, they warned against considering the percentages for the respective risk factors as set in stone, since there are numerous inadequacies in the collection of data in many countries.