Health

Cancer Risk Reduction Strategies

Here are some ways you can lower your chances of getting cancer.

Photo by Bart LaRue on Unsplash

First, the startling headline: Most Americans lack knowledge about the best cancer risk reduction practices, the dangers of e-cigarettes, and available end-of-life care despite an abundance of published data. These are the conclusions of the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s third annual Cancer Opinions Survey results.

Alas, fewer than one-quarter of survey respondents indicated they incorporate cancer prevention practices into their daily lives. Today, I want to talk about the survey before turning to ways that you can decrease your own risk of ever getting cancer.

Here is the scope of the cancer problem: Worldwide, there are over fourteen million individuals with cancer, and approximately eight million deaths from the disease annually. While survival rates are improving, over a half million Americans will die from the disease this year alone.

The survey — conducted online between July 9 and Aug. 10 — included four thousand and one adults (fifty-three percent women, and sixty-three percent white) plus an oversample of eight hundred and fourteen adults with cancer.

Concerned, but not acting