The Study
Global and regional cancer burden attributable to modifiable risk factors to inform prevention.
This study is like making a guess about which things might be connected to cancer by looking at numbers from around the world. It can tell us what things often appear together with cancer, but it can't prove that these things actually cause cancer.
Analysis score
Maximum 44 for a cross-sectional study.
Where the score came from
This study looked at how many cancers are caused by things people can change, like smoking or drinking.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 520 / 100
Quality score
Snapshots of a population at a single point in time, or descriptions of small groups. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine cause and effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes, it shows that over a third of cancers could be prevented by reducing these risks.
- 2In 2022, 7.1 million out of 18.7 million new cancer cases were due to things like smoking, infections, and alcohol.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Nature medicine
Year
2026
Authors
Hanna Fink, Oliver Langselius, J. Vignat, H. Rumgay, Jürgen Rehm, R. Martinez, Marilina Santero, Lucero Lopez-Perez, M. Inoue, Hongmei Zeng, K. Shield, E. Morgan, A. Ilbawi, Isabelle Soerjomataram
Related Content
Claims (5)
About 4 out of every 10 new cancer cases worldwide in 2022 were caused by things people can change, like smoking, drinking too much, being overweight, or not exercising enough.
Some cancers can be prevented, and this happens differently for men and women around the world. For example, about 30% of cancers in women and 45% in men could be avoided, with numbers changing depending on where you live.
This claim says that smoking causes more cancer worldwide than any other risk factor we can change, responsible for about 15 out of every 100 cancer cases. Infections come next at 10 cases, and alcohol at 3 cases.
In 2022, almost half of all cancer cases that could have been avoided around the world were lung, stomach, and cervical cancers, because things like smoking and infections that we can control played a big role in causing them.
Many cancers could be avoided by making healthy choices like eating well and exercising. For women, about 4 out of 10 cancers might be prevented this way, and for men, it's about 6 out of 10.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.