Improvements in prevention and detection have saved more lives from cancer in the last 45 years than advances in treatments. This is confirmed by a study published in ‘JAMA Oncology‘, which analyzed data on breast, cervical, colorectal, lung and prostate cancer, highlighting that these strategies prevented 80% of deaths. The researchers focused on these five types of cancer because they are among the most common causes of cancer death and there are strategies for their prevention, early detection and/or treatment. In recent years, these five types of cancer have accounted for nearly half of all new cancer diagnoses and deaths.
Of the 5.94 million deaths prevented between 1975 and 2020, 4.75 million are attributed to prevention and detection. According to Katrina AB Goddard, a researcher at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (USA), «eight out of ten deaths avoided are due to advances in these areas, outweighing the impact of treatment».
“Although many people may believe that advances in treatment are the main factor that has contributed to reducing mortality from these five types of cancer together, what is surprising is that prevention and detection contribute greatly to reducing mortality.” , says the associate principal investigator Katrina AB Goddard.
A single preventive intervention, smoking cessation, contributed to the majority of averted deaths: 3.45 million deaths from lung cancer alone. Considering each type of cancer individually, prevention and screening explained the majority of deaths averted from cervical, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancer, while advances in treatment accounted for the majority of deaths averted from breast cancer.
“To reduce cancer mortality rates, it is essential that we combine effective prevention and detection strategies with advances in treatment,” says the researcher. W. Kimryn Rathmell. “This study will help us understand which strategies have been most effective in reducing cancer deaths so we can continue to build on this momentum and hopefully increase the use of these strategies across the United States.”
The study shows, for example, that in lung cancer, 98% of the 3.45 million deaths prevented were achieved thanks to anti-smoking measures; In the breast, of one million deaths prevented, 75% are attributed to advances in treatments and the rest to mammograms; that the 160,000 deaths prevented in cervical cancer are due exclusively to Pap and HPV tests; that 79% of the 940,000 deaths prevented in colorectal cancer are attributed to early detection and removal of polyps, and that, in prostate cancer, 56% of the 360,000 deaths prevented were achieved thanks to the PSA test and the rest to treatments.
For Rathmell, combining prevention, detection and treatment strategies is essential to reduce mortality. Strategies such as HPV vaccination and lung cancer screening have the potential to further increase these numbers.
The authors emphasize the importance of making accessible prevention and detection tools, especially in marginalized populations. They also call for the development of interventions for lethal types of cancer, such as pancreatic and ovarian cancer.
Although the study focuses on five types of cancer, they account for nearly half of new cancer cases and deaths in the U.S., marking a clear path toward more effective strategies to reduce the cancer burden nationally.
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