Causes and Prevention Research

Nearly 750,000 cases of cancer diagnosed worldwide in 2020, or 4%, can be attributed to alcohol consumption, according to a new study. While heavy drinking accounted for most cases, light and moderate drinking accounted for a modest amount.

The director of NCI’s Division of Cancer Prevention, Dr. Philip Castle, discusses the division’s priority areas and his vision for making more rapid progress in cancer prevention, including moving toward precision prevention and immunoprevention.

One study examined whether genetic changes associated with exposure to radiation from the 1986 accident were passed from parent to child. A second study documented the genetic changes in thyroid tumors from people exposed as children or fetuses to radiation from the accident.

The study also found that people with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) developed some cancers at an earlier age and were more likely to die from several cancer types, which make preventive measures and early diagnosis important for people with NF1.

People who live in counties in the United States with persistent poverty are more likely to die from cancer than people in other counties, a new study shows, highlighting the influence of social and structural factors on health.

The age at which people tend to start smoking has shifted upwards, with more young adults than teens trying smoking for the first time or becoming regular smokers, according to a new study.

Even as a federal advisory panel has supported the use of aspirin to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer in some people, researchers are investigating how aspirin works against cancer and whether it may help reduce the risk of other cancers.

Regular use of low-dose aspirin may increase an older person’s risk of being diagnosed with advanced cancer and of dying from cancer, results from the ASPREE clinical trial suggest. Learn more about what this 19,000-participant study found.

On January 1, 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began requiring food manufacturers to display updated nutrition facts labels on their product packaging. Experts from FDA and NCI discuss the update and the research that underpins the changes.

More than a decade after vaccination, women who had received a single dose of the HPV vaccine continued to be protected against infection with the two cancer-causing HPV types targeted by the vaccine, an NCI-funded clinical trial shows.

Researchers tested a program that trains pediatricians’ offices to provide smoking cessation treatment to parents during visits with their child’s doctor. The approach is intended to reach adults who are motivated to quit to protect their child’s health.

Findings from a new NCI study of patients who received radioactive iodine (RAI) treatment for hyperthyroidism show an association between the dose of treatment and long-term risk of death from solid cancers, including breast cancer.

Researchers in the United Kingdom have found that e-cigarettes combined with counseling may be more helpful to smokers trying to quit tobacco than counseling and nicotine-replacement products, such as patches, gums, and lozenges.

The BRCA Exchange, a global resource that includes data on thousands of inherited variants in the BRCA1/BRCA2 genes, is available to the public through a website and new smartphone app.

In a new study, NIH investigators found that patients treated with chemotherapy for most solid tumors had an increased risk of tMDS/AML, a rare but often fatal blood cancer. The study, which used population-based data, was published in JAMA Oncology.

In the largest-ever randomized trial testing vitamin D for cancer prevention, the supplement did not lower the risk of developing cancer. The Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial (VITAL) includes a nationally representative sample of nearly 26,000 participants.

Eight factors may explain more than 80% of the relationship between poverty and disparities in cancer death rates at the county level, according to a new study. The largest mediator was a surprise to the researchers.

Researchers are shifting how they assess diet and cancer risk, looking beyond the impact of individual foods or nutrients on health, and taking a more holistic approach, considering dietary patterns across the lifespan.

Adolescents who use pod-style e-cigarettes had higher levels of nicotine in their bodies than is typically found in adolescents who smoke conventional cigarettes, a new study has found. The study's findings are concerning for several reasons.

Health care providers should emphasize cancer prevention when discussing HPV vaccination with the parents of preteens who are due to receive the vaccine, results from a new study show.

A study of more than 2,600 young adults found that the prevalence of oral infection with four HPV types, including two cancer-causing types, was 88% lower in those who reported receiving at least one dose of an HPV vaccine than in those not vaccinated.

A study of nationwide mortality data found that, while cancer deaths in the U.S. dropped between 1980 and 2014, disparities persisted, and in 160 counties cancer mortality rose substantially.

The consumption of cigarettes, small cigars, and chewing tobacco has declined over the past 15 years, according to a new study. These declines were partially offset by a rise in consumption of large cigars, pipe tobacco, and snuff.

People who consistently smoked an average of less than one cigarette per day over their lifetimes had a 64 percent higher risk of earlier death than people who never smoked.

Updated CDC recommendations advise those younger than age 15 need only two doses of the HPV vaccine instead of three.

The findings from a recent study suggest that adolescents are not just using e-cigarettes as a substitute for conventional cigarettes but that e-cigarettes are attracting new users to tobacco products.

A new report from an NCI working group lays out recommended priorities to help shape the institute’s future tobacco control research portfolio.

A new study of the relationship between physical activity and cancer has shown that greater levels of leisure-time physical activity were associated with a lower risk of developing 13 different types of cancer; the risk of developing seven cancer types was 20 percent lower among the most active participants as compared with the least active participants.

NCI’s Dr. Robert Croyle discusses the Food and Drug Administration’s release of a rule that extends its regulatory authority over tobacco products to include cigars, e-cigarettes, hookah (waterpipe) tobacco.

Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) types targeted by the quadrivalent HPV vaccine has declined by nearly two-thirds among teenage girls since HPV vaccination was recommended in the United States.

A missing hormone in obese mice may help explain a longstanding association between obesity and an increased risk of colorectal cancer in humans.