Jh. Olsen et al., SUMMARY OF AVOIDABLE CANCERS IN THE NORDIC COUNTRIES, APMIS. Acta pathologica, microbiologica et immunologica Scandinavica, 105, 1997, pp. 141-146
An overview is given of the most important known causes of cancer in t
he five Nordic countries and the resulting number of cancers that are
potentially avoidable. The main causes include active and passive smok
ing, alcohol consumption, exposure to asbestos and other occupational
carcinogens, solar and ionizing radiation, obesity, human papillomavir
us infection in the female genital tract and infection with Helicobact
er pylori. The organs most commonly affected are those of the respirat
ory system, the upper digestive tract and stomach, skin, the lower uri
nary tract and the uterine cervix. Annually, more than 18,000 cancers
in men and 11,000 in women in the Nordic populations could be avoided
by eliminating exposure to known carcinogens which is equivalent to 33
% and 20% of all cancers arising in men and women, respectively, aroun
d the year 2000. Smoking habits account for a little more than half of
these avoidable cases. Estimates of avoidable cancers are given for e
ach Nordic country, separately.