Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023:45:e2023070.
doi: 10.4178/epih.e2023070. Epub 2023 Aug 1.

Adherence to the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research and Korean Cancer Prevention Guidelines and cancer risk: a prospective cohort study from the Health Examinees-Gem study

Jeeyoo Lee  1 , Aesun Shin  1   2   3   4   5 , Woo-Kyoung Shin  1   4 , Ji-Yeob Choi  2   6   7 , Daehee Kang  1   2   4 , Jong-Koo Lee  8
Affiliations

Adherence to the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research and Korean Cancer Prevention Guidelines and cancer risk: a prospective cohort study from the Health Examinees-Gem study

Jeeyoo Lee et al. Epidemiol Health. 2023.

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the association between adherence to 2 cancer prevention recommendations and cancer risk.

Methods: In total, 104,386 individuals aged 40-69 years old who were recruited between 2004 and 2013 in the Health Examinees-Gem study were included. Adherence scores were constructed based on 8 items from the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) cancer prevention recommendations, including body weight, physical activity, diet, alcohol consumption and breastfeeding, and on 6 items from the Korean cancer prevention guidelines (smoking status, eating vegetables and fruits, salty foods, alcohol intake, physical activity, and body weight). A Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the associations between adherence scores and the risk of total and 5 major cancers.

Results: The multivariable hazard ratio (HR) for total cancer with the high adherence score versus the lowest score (4.25-7.00 vs. 0.00-3.25) for the WCRF/AICR guidelines was 0.91 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.82 to 1.00) in men. A reduced breast cancer risk was observed among women with the highest score. Men within the highest category of the Korean cancer prevention guideline score (3.25-6.00) had an HR of 0.80 (95% CI, 0.73 to 0.88) for developing total cancer compared to men within the lowest score (0.00-2.50). The higher adherence group among men showed lower risks of developing stomach, colorectal, and lung cancers.

Conclusions: Adhering to guidelines for cancer prevention can help to reduce the risk of developing cancer in Korean men. The association might differ by cancer type and gender.

Keywords: Cancer; Guideline; Korea.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare for this study.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow chart of selection of study participants. HEXA, Health Examinees; HEXA-Gem, Health Examinees-Gem.
None
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research Diet, nutrition, physical activity and cancer: a global perspective: a summary of the third expert repot. 2018. [cited 2022 Sep 19]. Available from: https://www.wcrf.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Summary-of-Third-Expert-....
    1. Doll R, Peto R. The causes of cancer: quantitative estimates of avoidable risks of cancer in the United States today. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1981;66:1191–1308. - PubMed
    1. Rock CL, Thomson C, Gansler T, Gapstur SM, McCullough ML, Patel AV, et al. American cancer society guideline for diet and physical activity for cancer prevention. CA Cancer J Clin. 2020;70:245–271. - PubMed
    1. Schüz J, Espina C, Villain P, Herrero R, Leon ME, Minozzi S, et al. European Code against cancer 4th edition: 12 ways to reduce your cancer risk. Cancer Epidemiol. 2015;39 Suppl 1:S1–S10. - PubMed
    1. Sasazuki S, Inoue M, Shimazu T, Wakai K, Naito M, Nagata C, et al. Evidence-based cancer prevention recommendations for Japanese. Jpn J Clin Oncol. 2018;48:576–586. - PubMed