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 Nov 15;153(10):1758-1765.
doi: 10.1002/ijc.34659. Epub 2023 Aug 7.

Population attributable proportion and number of cancer cases attributed to potentially modifiable risk factors in Iran in 2020

Saeed Nemati  1 , Elham Mohebbi  2 , Fatemeh Toorang  1 , Maryam Hadji  3 , Bayan Hosseini  1   4 , Elnaz Saeedi  5 , Sepideh Abdi  1 , Azin Nahvijou  1 , Farin Kamangar  6 , Gholamreza Roshandel  7 , Ali Ghanbari Motlagh  8   9 , Akram Pourshams  10 , Hossein Poustchi  10 , Ali Akbar Haghdoost  11 , Farid Najafi  12 , Mahdi Sheikh  13 , Reza Malekzadeh  14 , Kazem Zendehdel  1   15
Affiliations

Population attributable proportion and number of cancer cases attributed to potentially modifiable risk factors in Iran in 2020

Saeed Nemati et al. Int J Cancer. .

Abstract

In the current study, we aimed to calculate the fraction of cancer attributable to modifiable risk factors in Iran in 2020. Population attributable fractions (PAFs) were calculated for established cancer risk factors using three data sources: the national cancer incidence reports, relative risks extracted from global and national meta-analyses, and exposure prevalence from national/subnational population-based surveys. In addition to overall cancers, the PAFs were estimated separately for each cancer site among men and women. Overall, 32.6% of cancers in 2020 in Iran were attributable to known risk factors. The PAF in men (40.2%) was twice as high as in women (21.1%). Cigarette smoking (15.4%), being overweight (5.0%), opium use (3.9%) and H. pylori infection (3.8%) were the leading causes of cancers. For men, the highest PAFs belonged to cigarette smoking (26.3%), opium use (6.8%) and being overweight (3.1%), while for women, the highest PAFs belonged to being overweight (7.2%), H. pylori infection (2.7%) and cigarette smoking (2.7%). Among Iranian men and women, the PAFs of waterpipe smoking were 2% and 0.9%, respectively. A third of incident cancers in Iran are due to modifiable exposures, mainly cigarette smoking, being overweight, and H. pylori infection. Opium consumption and waterpipe smoking collectively accounted for 8.8% of cancer occurrence in men and 1.3% in women in Iran. These emerging risk factors should be taken into consideration in future PAF studies.

Keywords: neoplasms; population attributable fraction; prevention; risk factor.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. WHO. Cancer Control: Knowledge into Action: WHO Guide for Effective Programmes: Module 3: Early Detection. Geneva: World Health Organization Copyright World Health Organization 2007; 2007.
    1. Bray F, Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Siegel RL, Torre LA, Jemal A. Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2018;68(6):394-424.
    1. Tyczynski JE, Bray F, Parkin DM. Lung cancer in Europe in 2000: epidemiology, prevention, and early detection. Lancet Oncol. 2003;4(1):45-55.
    1. Parkin DM, Boyd L, Walker L. 16. The fraction of cancer attributable to lifestyle and environmental factors in the UK in 2010. Br J Cancer. 2011;105(S2):S77-S81.
    1. Miettinen OS. Proportion of disease caused or prevented by a given exposure, trait or intervention. Am J Epidemiol. 1974;99(5):325-332.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources