Cancer rates not explained by smoking: a county-level analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Debates over the importance of "lifestyle" versus "environment" contributions to cancer have been going on for over 40 years. While it is clear that cigarette smoking is the most significant cancer risk factor, the contributions of occupational and environmental carcinogens in air, water and food remain controversial. In practice, most cancer prevention messaging focuses on reducing cigarette smoking and changing other personal behaviors with little mention of environmental chemicals, despite widespread exposure to many known carcinogens. To inform decision-making on cancer prevention priorities, we evaluated the potential impact of smoking cessation on cancer rates.

Methods

Using cancer incidence data from 612 counties in the SEER database, and county-level smoki

SUBMITTER: Myers DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7276087 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature