International Journal of Public Health (Feb 2023)

Is Following a Cancer-Protective Lifestyle Linked to Reduced Cancer Mortality Risk?

  • Flurina Suter,
  • Nena Karavasiloglou,
  • Julia Braun,
  • Giulia Pestoni,
  • Giulia Pestoni,
  • Sabine Rohrmann

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/ijph.2023.1605610
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 68

Abstract

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Objectives: This study investigates the association between a cancer protective lifestyle (defined based on the revised World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) cancer prevention recommendations) and mortality in Switzerland.Methods: Based on the cross-sectional, population-based National Nutrition Survey, menuCH (n = 2057), adherence to the WCRF/AICR recommendations was assessed via a score. Quasipoisson regression models were fitted to examine the association of adherence to the WCRF/AICR recommendations with mortality at the Swiss district-level. Spatial autocorrelation was tested with global Moran’s I. Integrated nested Laplace approximation models were fitted when significant spatial autocorrelation was detected.Results: Participants with higher cancer prevention scores had a significant decrease in all-cause (relative risk 0.95; 95% confidence interval 0.92, 0.99), all-cancer (0.93; 0.89, 0.97), upper aero-digestive tract cancer (0.87; 0.78, 0.97), and prostate cancer (0.81; 0.68, 0.94) mortality, compared to those with lower scores.Conclusion: The inverse association between adherence to the WCRF/AICR recommendations and mortality points out the potential of the lifestyle recommendations to decrease mortality and especially the burden of cancer in Switzerland.

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