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Cancer Causes and Control

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Cancer

  • 248 Accesses

Synonyms

Cancer etiology; Cancer prevention; Prevention

Definition

The process of identifying causes of cancer and developing strategies to change cancer risk through health-care providers, regulations that reduce risk, or individual and community level changes.

Characteristics

Over six million people around the world die from cancer each year. There is overwhelming evidence that lifestyle factors impact cancer risk and that positive population-wide changes can significantly reduce the cancer burden. Current epidemiologic evidence links behavioral factors to a variety of diseases, including the most common cancers diagnosed in the developed world – lung cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, and breast cancer. These four cancers account for over 50 % of all cancers diagnosed on western countries. As summarized in Fig. 1, tobacco causes some 30 % of cancer, lack of physical activity 5 %, obesity 15 %, diet 10 %, alcohol 5 %, viral infections 5 %, and UV lightby excess sun...

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References

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See Also

  • (2012) Colorectal cancer. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 916. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_1265

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  • (2012) Folate. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 1440. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_2231

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  • (2012) Hepatitis B Virus. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 1663. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_2659

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  • (2012) HIV. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 1706. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_2764

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  • (2012) Lycopene. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 2116. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_3441

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  • (2012) MTFR. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, pp 2383–2384. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_6767

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  • (2012) Renal cancer. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, pp 3225–3226. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_6575

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  • (2012) Ultraviolet light. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 3841. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_6101

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  • (2012) Viruses. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 3924. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_6203

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  • (2012) Vitamin A. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 3925. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_6205

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  • Möslein G (2009) Colon cancer. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, pp 722–727. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-47648-1_126

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Graham A. Colditz

Authors
  1. Graham A. Colditz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Graham A. Colditz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Abt. Tumorgenetik, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg, Germany

    Manfred Schwab

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Colditz, G.A. (2014). Cancer Causes and Control. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_804-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_804-3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27841-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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