Cancer Prevention Overview (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version

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Changes to This Summary (08/08/2018)

The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.

Description of the Evidence

Added text to state that the expectation is that, if a risk factor truly causes cancer, it would also be the case that a lifestyle modification (i.e., changing one's risk profile from bad to good) would actually reduce cancer risk, at least partially; this expectation can be fulfilled only if the association is due to a causal (and ideally, reversible) relationship. Because observational studies rarely provide conclusive evidence of such relationships, additional evidence is required (cited Song et al. as reference 4).

Added text to state that the risk of cancer-specific death after a solid organ transplant is higher during the first 6 months posttransplant but persists for many years; it is especially high for cancers linked to viral infections.

Added text to state that a recent analysis of the long-running Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study estimated the proportions of cancer cases and deaths in the U.S. population on the basis of adoption of a low-risk lifestyle (characterized by being a never-smoker or former smoker, having no or moderate alcohol drinking, having a BMI between 18.5 and 27.5, and meeting the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans). Also added text to state that one major weakness of the study was that its premise assumed the causality of the nonsmoking risk factors; the analysis was further weakened by using self-reported measures of diet and alcohol use, and by measuring only leisure-time physical activity. Also, the authors did not present the effects of the nonsmoking risk factors after accounting for smoking; this analysis and others with similar weaknesses should therefore be interpreted cautiously (cited Song et al. as reference 4).

This summary is written and maintained by the PDQ Screening and Prevention Editorial Board, which is editorially independent of NCI. The summary reflects an independent review of the literature and does not represent a policy statement of NCI or NIH. More information about summary policies and the role of the PDQ Editorial Boards in maintaining the PDQ summaries can be found on the About This PDQ Summary and PDQ® - NCI's Comprehensive Cancer Database pages.

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