Behavior and Lifestyle Factors Influence Cancer Risk Among The Elderly

According to a recent research, behavioral risk factors have a significant effect on cancer risk in the U.S. elderly population. Understanding these factors may allow clinicians to make specific recommendations for their elderly patients in order to reduce their risks of future cancers.

"About 80 percent of all cancers are diagnosed in the elderly, and more than 80 percent of known risk factors are potentially preventable," said Igor Akushevich, Ph.D., senior research scientist, Center for Population Health and Aging, Duke University, Durham, N.C.

"So far, we have not come to the stage where we are able to make specific recommendations regarding risk factors," Akushevich said. "However, we can confirm several of them which are known. As expected, we see associations of cigarette smoking with lung cancer. Moderate physical activities are capable of decreasing cancer risk, as well as careful health care insurance strategy and, hypothetically, general optimism in life."

Although the results need to be verified in subsequent studies, the researchers found significant contributions from a variety of lifestyle, behavioral and demographic variables on the risk of breast, lung, colon and prostate cancers among the elderly.