More than a third of cancer deaths are linked to smoking and other bad habits

An international team of scientists studied 34 risk factors for 23 types of cancer and determined their contribution to mortality and poor health.

The Lancet notes that this research was done as part of the Global Burden study. of Disease (HBD).

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world, with around 10 million deaths from cancer in 2020, compared with less than 60 million deaths from all other causes, according to the World Health Organization.

Using GBD data, researchers attributed 4.45 million deaths in 2019, of which 2.88 million men (50.6 percent) and 1.58 million women (36.3 percent), to 34 behavioral factors (smoking, alcohol, unprotected sex, malnutrition, etc.). ).

And that 36.9 percent of deaths were associated with tumors of the bronchi, bronchi, or lungs. And that mortality among men due to colorectal cancer (13.3 percent), esophagus (9.7 percent) and stomach (6.6 percent), and women due to cervical cancer (17.9 percent), bowel cancer (15.8 percent) and breast cancer (11 percent). ).
According to researchers, there are more premature deaths among men than among women, because men smoke and drink more alcohol than women. Another reason is that men work in certain places where they are exposed to carcinogens.

It should be noted that this study is the first to examine the impact of risk factors at global, regional and national levels, across age groups and for both sexes over time.

Source: TASS