Friday, November 18, 2005

Cancer Risk Factors

A study by the Harvard School of Public Health of the 7 million people worldwide who died of cancer in 2001 showed that more than a third of these deaths stemmed from nine potentially modifiable risk factors:

Smoking
Being overweight or obese
Physical inactivity
Low intake of fruits and vegetables
Alcohol use
"Unsafe" sex
Indoor smoke from household use of solid fuels
Contaminated injections in health care settings
Air pollution

According to the research, smoking, alcohol use, and weight problems (being overweight or obese) were "the most important causes of cancer" in high-income countries while sexual transmission of the human papillomavirus (HPV) -- which can cause cervical cancer -- was a big risk factor for women in low- and middle-income countries.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home