The top risk factors that cause cancer deaths in India are smoking, alcohol consumption, and High BMI Index among adults.
A groundbreaking study published in the infamous magazine Lancet states that 37% of cancer deaths in India were due to risk factors. This data is for the year 2019 which was obtained through the NGOs, Health Ministries, and Think Tanks alike. Globally, the number of such associated deaths is even higher. It is 44.5% which is 4.5 million deaths in a year due to cancer.
What are these risk factors?
According to the estimates based on the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Report, 2019, the top 3 risk factors that increase the chances of death through cancer in India are frequent smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and high BMI. Moreover, the risk factor due to hazardous work and gender can also vary for different people.
It has been long proven that smoking a lot can deeply affect your lungs and render your bronchi impaired due to the tar formation. Not only it harms the smoker but also the people in that person’s presence. Th smoke from cigarrette smoke puffs enter the nostrils in the people present in close proximity of the smoker. This also leads to deaths due to predominantly lung cancer.
Also, alcohol consumption affects the body in similar fashion except it damages the liver and pancreatic tissues. Recently, there has been upward trend in the number of drinkers that is a worrying cause for the society.
High BMI is a body mass metric that depends on your height and weight. If a person is obese or has high BMI (above 21) then he/she is at higher risk of dying from cancer-related infections. Unsurprisingly, metabolic risks account for the greatest increase in cancer deaths and ill health, with death increasing by 34.7% (6,43,000 deaths in 2010 to 8,65,000 in 2019).
What are the gender disparities in cancer statistics?
According to the above-mentioned study, nearly half of all cancer deaths in the men globally i.e. 50.6% in 2019 were due to known risk factors. These risk factors originated solely from lifestyle problems like cardiovascular diseases, obesity, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, etc. On the other hand, 36.3% females who died due to cancer were plagued by the earlier stated risk factors.
The leading causes of cancer deaths caused by risk factors for both men and women globally were tracheal cancer, bronchus cancer, and lung cancer, which accounted for 36.9% of all cancer deaths attributed to risk factors. This list also included fatal cancers like rectum cancer (13.3%), oesophageal cancer (9.7%) and stomach cancer (6.6%) in men and cervical cancer (17.9%), colon and rectum cancer (15.8%), and breast cancer (11%).
Are there any occupational reasons behind the risk factors for cancer?
As for now, smoking continues to be the top most risk factor that exacerbates cancer chances in men and women. Christopher Murray, who is the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine and Co-Author of the respective study said that though cancer can be caused due to genetic factors sometimes, a major portion of deaths are led by the risk factors.
These so-called risk factors eventually weaken the immune system, thereby hampering the the body’s capacity to fight off infection and side effects of chemotherapies. Moreover, obesity can single handedly lead to a lot of bodily functions going astray. Therefore, it is so much more important to take care of overall health of your body.
In the study, the researchers from many universities concluded that 34 behavioral, metabolic and environmental factors along with occupational hazards can contribute to 23 types of cancers. Here, occupational hazards refer to the exposure to harmful chemicals, substances and smoke while working in and around factories, which may cause cancer. Governments all around the world has specified norms to regulate such harmful manufacturing places and industrial units. Yet, many workers especially aged and children are affected in such laborious places.
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