Cancer prevention

Cancer prevention is the practice of taking active measures to decrease the incidence of cancer and mortality.[1][2] The practice of prevention depends on both individual efforts to improve lifestyle and seek preventive screening, and socioeconomic or public policy related to cancer prevention.[3] Globalized cancer prevention is regarded as a critical objective due to its applicability to large populations, reducing long term effects of cancer by promoting proactive health practices and behaviors, and its perceived cost-effectiveness and viability for all socioeconomic classes.[2]

The majority of cancer cases are due to the accumulation of environmental pollution being inherited as epigenetic damage and most of these environmental factors are controllable lifestyle choices.[4] Greater than a reported 75% of cancer deaths could be prevented by avoiding risk factors including: tobacco, overweight / obesity, an insufficient diet, physical inactivity, alcohol, sexually transmitted infections, and air pollution.[5][6] Not all environmental causes are controllable, such as naturally occurring background radiation, and other cases of cancer are caused through hereditary genetic disorders. Current genetic engineering techniques under development may serve as preventive measures in the future.[7] Future preventive screening measures can be additionally improved by minimizing invasiveness and increasing specificity by taking individual biological makeup into account, also known as "population-based personalized cancer screening."[2]

Death rate adjusted for age for malignant cancer per 100,000 inhabitants in 2004.[8]

While anyone can get cancer,[9] age is one of the biggest factors that increases the risk of cancer: 3 out of 4 cancers are found in people aged 55 or older.

  1. ^ "Cancer prevention: 7 steps to reduce your risk". Mayo Clinic. 27 September 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2010.[unreliable medical source?]
  2. ^ a b c Valle I, Tramalloni D, Bragazzi NL (June 2015). "Cancer prevention: state of the art and future prospects". Journal of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene. 56 (1): E21–7. PMC 4718348. PMID 26789828.
  3. ^ "Cancer Prevention & Early Detection Facts & Figures 2017-18" (PDF). Cancer.org. April 1, 2017.
  4. ^ Danaei G, Vander Hoorn S, Lopez AD, Murray CJ, Ezzati M (2005). "Causes of cancer in the world: comparative risk assessment of nine behavioural and environmental risk factors". Lancet. 366 (9499): 1784–93. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)67725-2. PMID 16298215. S2CID 17354479.
  5. ^ Doll R, Peto R (1981). "The causes of cancer: quantitative estimates of avoidable risks of cancer in the United States today". J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 66 (6): 1191–308. doi:10.1093/jnci/66.6.1192. PMID 7017215.
  6. ^ Anand P, Kunnumakkara AB, Kunnumakara AB, Sundaram C, Harikumar KB, Tharakan ST, Lai OS, Sung B, Aggarwal BB (2008). "Cancer is a preventable disease that requires major lifestyle changes". Pharm. Res. 25 (9): 2097–116. doi:10.1007/s11095-008-9661-9. PMC 2515569. PMID 18626751. (Erratum: doi:10.1007/s11095-008-9690-4, PMID 18626751. If the erratum has been checked and does not affect the cited material, please replace {{erratum|...}} with {{erratum|...|checked=yes}}.)
  7. ^ "CRISPR Gene-Editing Tool May Help Improve Cancer Immunotherapy". National Cancer Institute. 2017-03-20. Retrieved 2018-03-09.
  8. ^ "WHO Disease and injury country estimates". World Health Organization. 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  9. ^ "Cancer Prevention". 2014-02-12. Archived from the original on 2018-06-17. Retrieved 2014-11-07.