In a recent report, the Cancer Registry concludes that a large proportion of cancer cases in Norway could have been avoided.
They have taken as a starting point cancers that are highly likely to be linked to selected risk factors such as smoking, alcohol, overweight and obesity, diet, insufficient physical activity and UV radiation.
Of approximately 20,000 cases last year, the Cancer Registry believes that 13,000 could have been avoided.
CANCER REPORT: The researchers say that it has been very useful to see how many cancer cases in Norway could have been prevented. Photo: Frode Sunde / TV 2
Risk factors
The researchers have started from what they refer to as an “unrealistic and ideal world” where no one is exposed to smoke, no one gets sunburnt and no one drinks alcohol.
– But it says something about the potential for prevention, if we can do something about our lifestyles. These are mostly factors that we can help influence, says Cancer Registry researcher and project manager Trude Eid Robsahm to TV 2.
LARGEST PROPORTION: It is lung cancer that stands out clearly when it comes to cancer cases that could have been prevented, according to the Cancer Registry. Photo: Frank May / NTB
The report states that it is smoking and UV exposure in particular that are the biggest risk factors.
Surprising findings
For women, they believe that 1,992 of the cancer cases caused by smoking could have been prevented. For men, the number is 3,247.
When it comes to UV exposure, they believe that 1,296 of the cases in women could have been prevented, compared to 1,532 cases in men.
– I work a lot with skin cancer, and it surprised me that UV exposure came up as one of the most important risk factors, says Eid Robsahm.
– Worrying
Skin cancer is the form of cancer that has increased the most in Norway, according to the researcher.
– From being one of the rare ones, it has become one of the great ones. It is very worrying, says Eid Robsahm.
SOLARIUM: The number of cancer cases linked to the use of solariums accounts for a large proportion among both women and men. Photo: Frode Sunde / TV 2
She is clear that there is a lot each of us can do to prevent cancer.
– Firstly, we can never start smoking, and secondly, we should never go to a solarium. We need to get sunburned as few times as we can during our lives. We must be physically active, we must think about what we put in our mouths and we must watch our alcohol intake.
– A social responsibility
Although there is much each of us can do, the researcher recognizes that there is also a need for structural changes in society.
– It is not always possible to choose the healthy diet, because it is often three times as expensive. So this is to the highest degree a social responsibility.
Eid Robsahm believes that many people think that people know more about risk factors related to cancer than they actually do.
– For example, I don’t think people know that alcohol intake affects the risk of breast cancer, or that people realize that diet plays a role in something other than obesity.
Realistic
Despite the fact that the report takes its starting point in an ideal world, the researcher believes that a high proportion of cancer cases could quite realistically have been prevented.
– A realistic figure would perhaps be half of the 13,000 – and there are quite a few cancer cases as well.
