Primary prevention of cancer: prevention of cancer from the etiology.
(1) Smoking cessation is the first step to prevent cancer (Primary prevention of cancer):
Smoking and other tobacco products can cause lung cancer, which is related to about 1 / 3 of the cancer. Since 1963, when the American Health Association proposed that smoking was harmful to health and advocated smoking cessation, the smoking rate of adult males in the United States has decreased from 52% in 1965 to 34.8% in 1983; Adult female smoking rate decreased from 34.2% to 29.5%. By the late 1990s, the smoking rate of American adults (men and women combined) had dropped from 42% to 25%, 50million smokers had quit smoking, and the rising lung cancer mortality rate over the years had been curbed by the 1990s.
The incidence and mortality of male lung cancer have begun to decline slightly. Cancer mortality in the United States has started to decline since 1998. In the United States, smoking cessation has been promoted since the 1960s. Local governments have formulated relevant laws to restrict smoking, indicating that it is possible to reduce the smoking rate and prevent cancer through publicity, education and other measures.
(2)Significant effect of preventing primary liver cancer (Primary prevention of cancer):
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is considered to be the second known human carcinogen after tobacco.
Muir, an expert on cancer epidemiology, believes that universal vaccination of infants with hepatitis B vaccine in areas with high incidence of liver cancer will reduce the number of patients with liver cancer by 80%. Qidong Institute of liver cancer in Jiangsu Province, China believes that if hepatitis B vaccine is widely administered to newborn infants, the incidence of liver cancer is predicted to be reduced by about 70%.
Qidong City in Jiangsu Province and Fusui County in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region are two well-known high-risk areas of liver cancer in China. Since the 1970s, they have attached importance to the prevention of liver cancer and adopted the following measures: prevention and treatment of hepatitis; Reduce eating moldy grain and edible oil; Improve water quality and avoid eating polluted water; Take drugs to improve immunity or supplement trace element selenium.
After more than 20 years of efforts, by the early 1990s, when the incidence and mortality of liver cancer in the surrounding counties were 1-2 times higher than 20 years ago, the mortality of liver cancer in Qidong was 28% lower than 20 years ago (men and women combined). The incidence of liver cancer (male and female combined) in Fusui County decreased by 24.94%. The incidence of liver cancer in residents under 30 years old has declined significantly.
(3) Comprehensive measures to prevent esophageal cancer (Primary prevention of cancer):
Linzhou City, Henan Province, China is one of the high incidence areas of esophageal cancer. Since the 1960s, medical personnel and scientific researchers have come to Linzhou to study the etiology, prevention, early diagnosis and early treatment of esophageal cancer. By the 1970s, researchers and local health leaders had jointly discussed the preliminary methods to prevent esophageal cancer.
- prevent moldy grains and other foods.
- do not eat pickled vegetables, pickled vegetables, and improve water quality.
- through the general survey, the precancerous lesion of esophageal cancer – severe hyperplasia of esophageal epithelium was found and treated.
- applying trace aluminum fertilizer can increase the content of aluminum and vitamin C in crops and reduce the content of nitrite in crops.
- changing unhealthy habits: including not eating pickled vegetables and pickled food, eating more fresh vegetables and fruits, advocating tooth brushing, and building chimneys for stoves.
In addition to the above etiological prevention (primary prevention), early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment (secondary prevention) are also carried out at the same time, and various opportunities are used to popularize scientific knowledge. After more than 20 years of unremitting efforts, we have made achievements in the prevention and control work.
According to the research and analysis of Henan Cancer Institute and Linzhou esophageal cancer prevention and Control Institute, the incidence of esophageal cancer in the 1990s decreased by 27.38% in men and 16.61% in women compared with the 1980s. The mortality rate of esophageal cancer decreased by 35.81% in men and 15.74% in women. This is particularly prominent among residents under the age of 45. This is closely related to the obvious improvement of the living environment, dietary structure and habits of residents in Linzhou, the early detection, early diagnosis, early treatment of esophageal cancer, and health education.