Some 40% of cancer cases can be prevented, mostly by quitting smoking in Netherlands
Almost four in ten cancer cases in the Netherlands are linked to lifestyle and other preventable factors, with smoking identified as the leading cause, followed by unprotected sun exposure, high body mass index, and alcohol consumption, according to a new international study. In the Netherlands, smoking accounted for more than 16 percent of cancer cases in women and over 23 percent in men.
Researchers at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, analyzed data on 36 types of cancer from 185 countries, assessing the impact of 30 risk factors, including smoking, alcohol use, and infections such as HPV. Researchers published the findings in Nature Medicine on Tuesday, with the aim of informing policy measures for cancer prevention.
The study used exposure data from around 2012 to estimate cancer cases diagnosed in 2022. “For example, insufficient physical activity is a risk factor for colorectal, breast, and uterine cancer. Around 2012, 13.7 percent of Dutch adults were not active enough. Using models, we estimate that 1,091 cases in 2022 could have been avoided if everyone had met activity recommendations,” explained lead researcher Hanna Fink in an email to De Volkskrant. She noted that these figures are model-based estimates and do not correspond to specific individual patients. The study did not include confidence intervals due to the complexity of the calculations.
Bart Kiemeney, professor of cancer epidemiology at Radboudumc, called the research extensive and carefully conducted, though he noted inherent uncertainties in the underlying data. “These results are not natural constants, but they align with previous studies. In Dutch and U.S. research using other methods, roughly two-thirds of cancer cases are due to chance or genetics, and one-third are linked to preventable factors,” he told De Volkskrant.
Kiemeney emphasized that individual cancer cases cannot be directly attributed to smoking, as chance plays a role, but prevention at the population level can significantly reduce cases and healthcare costs.
