23 internationally recognized carcinogenic factors announced! How to stay away from them? This article explains it all...

If you want to stay away from cancer, you must start with a scientific understanding of cancer.

What factors can cause cancer? 23 internationally recognized carcinogenic factors announced!

23 internationally recognized carcinogenic factors announced!

In 2019, Academician He Jie, President of the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and Professor Chen Wanqing, Director of the Office of Early Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer, published a study in The Lancet Global Health, summarizing the 23 main cancer risk factors in various provinces in China, which can be divided into five categories. They are:

The study used adult cancer mortality data from 31 provinces in mainland China in 2014, and included a total of 23 common carcinogens identified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer or the World Cancer Research Fund.

1. More than 40% of cancer deaths are avoidable

The research results show that among adults aged 20 and above, 1.036 million people die each year from various cancers caused by the 23 carcinogens mentioned above, accounting for 45.2% of all cancer deaths among people aged 20 and above (approximately 2.29 million).

In other words, if the 23 carcinogenic factors can be prevented and controlled, more than one million people in China can avoid dying from cancer every year.

Specifically, 51.2% of cancer deaths in men and 34.9% of cancer deaths in women are avoidable.

In men, more than 70% of Kaposi sarcoma, nasopharyngeal cancer, anal cancer, oropharyngeal cancer, liver cancer, laryngeal cancer, and lung cancer can be avoided.

In women, more than 70% of Kaposi sarcoma, cervical cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer, anal cancer, and vaginal cancer can be avoided.

2. The ranking of major carcinogenic factors in men and women is different

For men: The leading cancer-causing factor is smoking; followed by hepatitis B virus infection, insufficient fruit intake, drinking and PM2.5 exposure.

Women: The number one cancer-causing factor is "low fruit intake", that is, not eating enough fruit. In addition, hepatitis B virus infection, active smoking, overweight and human papillomavirus infection are also major cancer-causing factors for women.

3. The five types of cancer risk factors vary by age

In addition, the study pointed out that the proportion of cancer deaths caused by the five types of carcinogenic factors to all cancer deaths has different age trends in the population:

1. The proportion of cancer deaths attributable to behavioral factors is higher in the elderly group, especially in men aged 50-54 and women aged 65-69.

2. Among infectious factors, both males and females aged 30-54 have a higher attributable proportion, with the highest peak being between 35 and 39 years old.

3. The attributable proportions of both dietary and environmental factors increase with age.

4. Among metabolic factors, the attributable proportions for men and women peak at 40-44 years old and 50-54 years old, respectively; and before the age of 50, this proportion is higher in men than in women, but after the age of 50, this pattern is reversed, with women being higher than men.

The figure shows the age trend of the proportion of cancer deaths caused by carcinogenic factors in China

If the above factors are effectively controlled, not only will the cancer burden in my country be significantly reduced, but it will also be beneficial to the prevention and control of other diseases.

Stay away from 23 carcinogenic factors, please keep these 5 tables!

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can prevent cancer!

Let’s start cancer prevention from ourselves!

Reviewer of this article: Chen Haixu, Deputy Director and Master Supervisor of the Second Medical Center of PLA General Hospital

Source: Health Times (ID: jksb2013)

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