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. 2024 Mar 8;27(4):109430.
doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109430. eCollection 2024 Apr 19.

Cancer burden attributable to risk factors, 1990-2019: A comparative risk assessment

Junjie Hu  1 , Hongliang Dong  2   3 , Yiming Dong  4 , Runxuan Zhou  1 , Wilhem Teixeira  5 , Xingxing He  6   7 , Da-Wei Ye  1 , Gang Ti  8
Affiliations

Cancer burden attributable to risk factors, 1990-2019: A comparative risk assessment

Junjie Hu et al. iScience. .

Abstract

An up-to-date comprehensive assessment of the cancer burden attributable to risk factors is essential for cancer prevention. We analyzed the population attributable fraction (PAF) of cancer disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) attributable to 11 level 2 risk factors using data from the Global Burden and Disease Study (GBD) 2019. We highlighted that almost half of the cancer DALYs can be preventable by modifying relevant risk factors. The attributable cancer DALYs increased by 60.42%-105.0 million from 1990 to 2019. Tobacco, dietary risks, alcohol use, high body-mass index, and air pollution were the top five risk factors. The PAFs attributable to high fasting plasma glucose, high body-mass index, and low physical activity have increased worldwide from 1990 to 2019. Unsafe sex was the leading risk factor for women before age of 54. Tailored prevention programs targeted at specific populations should be scaled up to reduce the cancer burden in the future.

Keywords: Cancer; Health sciences; Public health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
PAFs of cancer DALYs attributable to eleven level 2 risk factors at the global level The temporal trends of global age-standardized PAFs of cancer DALYs attributable to eleven level 2 risk factors for both sexes (A), male (B) and female (C) from1990 to 2019. DALYs, disability-adjusted life years. PAF, population attributable fraction. See also Figures S1 and S2.
Figure 2
Figure 2
PAFs and rates of cancer DALYs attributable to eleven level 2 risk factors at the regional level (A) Age-standardized PAFs of cancer DALYs attributable to eleven level 2 risk factors, for both sexes in 27 global and regional locations in 2019. (B) Age-standardized DALY rates of cancer attributable to eleven level 2 risk factors, for both sexes in 27 global and regional locations in 2019. DALYs, disability-adjusted life years. PAF, population attributable fraction. See also Table S1.
Figure 3
Figure 3
PAFs of cancer DALYs attributable to eleven level 2 risk factors at the national level Age-standardized PAF of cancer DALYs attributable to all modifiable risk factors (A) and eleven specific level 2 risk factors: air pollution (B), other environmental risks (C), tobacco (D), alcohol use (E), drug use (F), high fasting plasma glucose (G), high body-mass index (H), dietary risks (I), low physical activity (J), occupational risks (K), unsafe sex (L), for both sexes in 204 countries and territories in 2019. DALYs, disability-adjusted life years. PAF, population attributable fraction. See also Table S2 and Figure S3.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Age and sex disparity in the PAFs of cancer DALYs attributable to eleven level 2 risk factors at the global level Global age-specific PAF of cancer DALYs attributable to eleven specific level 2 risk factors for male(A) and female(B) in 2019. DALYs, disability-adjusted life years. PAF, population attributable fraction. See also Table S1.
Figure 5
Figure 5
PAFs of cancer DALYs attributable to eleven level 2 risk factors and related cancer types across SDI quintiles in 2019 DALYs, disability-adjusted life years. PAF, population attributable fraction. SDI, sociodemographic index. See also Table S3.
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