Smoking, alcohol, high BMI leading causes of global cancer deaths: Lancet study

Smoking, alcohol use, high body mass index (BMI), and other known risk factors were responsible for nearly 4.45 million global cancer deaths in 2019, according to study published in The Lancet journal on Friday.

The findings can help policymakers and researchers identify key risk factors that could be targeted in efforts to reduce deaths and ill health from cancer regionally, nationally, and globally.

“This study illustrates that the burden of cancer remains an important public health challenge that is growing in magnitude around the world,” said Christopher Murray, Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, US.

“Smoking continues to be the leading risk factor for cancer globally, with other substantial contributors to cancer burden varying,” said Murray, a co-senior author of the study.

Using results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) 2019 study, the researchers investigated how 34 behavioural, metabolic, and environmental and occupational risk factors contributed to deaths and ill health due to 23 cancer types in 2019.