Smoking, alcohol consumption, and being overweight turned out to be major contributors.
Scientists from the University of Washington’s School of Medicine have conducted a study on how risk factors contribute to cancer deaths and ill health globally, and it's been found that nearly half of all cancer-related fatalities globally are caused by risk factors like smoking, consuming alcohol, being overweight, and others.
Smoking, drinking alcohol, and having a high body mass index are the main causes of cancer deaths. According to the study, risk factors cause roughly 4.45 million cancer deaths annually. That amounts to 44.4 percent of all worldwide. Compared to more than a third of all female cancer deaths , estimated risk factors were the reason behind half of all male cancer deaths in 2019 .“This study illustrates that the burden of cancer remains an important public health challenge that is growing in magnitude around the world,” said Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine and a co-senior author of the study.