MADRID, 4 (EUROPA PRESS)
A new large-scale study by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) shows that older age and smoking are the two strongest risk factors associated with a five-year relative and absolute risk of developing a cancer.
The results also show that in addition to age and smoking, physicians should consider excess body fat, family history of any type of cancer, and several other factors that can help patients determine s they could benefit from improved cancer screening or prevention. interventions. The data was published in the journal ‘Cancer’.
“The specific screening recommendations for each type of cancer are based on the risk factors for that particular type of cancer,” said Dr. Alpa Patel, senior vice president of population science at the American Cancer Society and author principal of the study. “Our results are encouraging, as we are working to define subgroups of the general population that could benefit from improved cancer screening and prevention,” he said.
For this finding, the researchers analyzed two prospective ACS cohort studies, the Cancer Prevention Study-II Nutrition Cohort and the Cancer Prevention Study-3, to identify risk factors associated with an absolute risk greater than 2%. cancer within five years.
The authors studied 429,991 participants from the United States with no personal history of cancer and followed up for up to five years. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals for the association. From these RRs, the individualized constant absolute risk estimate was used to calculate the absolute risks by age.
The results showed that 15,226 invasive cancers were diagnosed among the participants within five years of enrolment. The variable-adjusted relative risk of any type of cancer was higher in current smokers than in those who had never smoked.
Among men, alcohol consumption, family history of cancer, red meat consumption and physical inactivity were also associated with risk. In women, body mass index (BMI), type 2 diabetes, hysterectomy, parity, family history of cancer, high blood pressure, tubal ligation, and physical inactivity were associated with cancer risk.
The five-year absolute risk exceeded 2% in almost all people over 50 and some people under 50, including current or former smokers (under 30 years since quitting) and non-smokers. – long-time smokers with a BMI over 25 or a family history of first-degree cancer. The five-year absolute risk was 29% in men and 25% in women.
“As we consider the possibility that future tests may identify multiple types of cancer, we need to begin to understand who is most at risk of developing any type of cancer,” Patel said.
“This type of data is not widely available, but is needed to inform future screening options, such as blood screening for various cancers that could help save lives.”