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Tobacco smoking is a leading cause of preventable cancer cases.Credit: Jorge Sanz\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket\/Getty<\/p>\n
Nearly 40% of new cancer cases<\/a> worldwide are potentially preventable, according to one of the first investigations1<\/a> of its kind, which analysed dozens of cancer types in almost 200 countries.<\/p>\n The study found that in 2022, roughly seven million cancer diagnoses were linked to modifiable risk factors \u2014 those that can be changed, controlled or managed to reduce the likelihood of developing the disease. Overall, tobacco<\/a> smoking was the leading contributor to worldwide cancer cases<\/a>, followed by infections<\/a> and drinking alcohol<\/a>. The findings suggest that avoiding such risk factors is \u201cone of the most powerful ways that we can potentially reduce the future cancer burden\u201d, says study co-author Hanna Fink, a cancer epidemiologist at the World Health Organization\u2019s International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France.<\/p>\n The study was published today in Nature Medicine.<\/p>\n Troubling trend<\/p>\n 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<\/a> have estimated that around 44% of global cancer deaths can be attributed to avoidable or controllable causes<\/a>. Estimates of preventability have mainly focused on the number of deaths rather than cases and have mostly investigated a single risk factor, says Fink.<\/p>\n