GE Healthcare Research: Bad habits add $33.9 billion to annual global cost of cancer
GE Healthcare has released secondary research findings indicating that bad habits and lifestyle choices are contributing approximately $33.9 billion annually to the costs related to cancer. Furthermore, the same research revealed that by reducing bad habits, global healthcare systems could potentially save $25 billion each year.
The research conducted by GfK Bridgehead on behalf of GE Healthcare in May and June 2013 focused on four key bad habits; smoking, alcohol consumption, poor nutrition and physical inactivity and their relationship to three types of cancer – breast, lung and colon. The study calculated the cancer costs attributable to bad habits in ten developed and developing markets.
“The cumulative global cost of bad habits revealed in this research is staggering. I am encouraged by the potential savings that could be achieved by all of us just making a few small lifestyle changes and committing to a personal monitoring schedule,” said Jeff DeMarrais, Chief Communications Officer, GE Healthcare. “This data reinforces why our annual #GetFit campaign is so important in driving education and awareness of the link between healthy choices, early diagnosis and the possible risk of cancer.”
The research also breaks down the $33.9 billion annual global cost across ten markets by market and includes the current annual cost of treating cancer and the calculated potential annual savings.
The US with $18.41 billion or 54 per cent of the total current annual global cost of cancer is followed by China at $8.57 billion (25.3 per cent) and France, Germany and Turkey at around $1.5 billion (4.4 per cent). Developing markets such as Brazil with $378 million (1.1 per cent) and Saudi Arabia $107 million (0.3 per cent) currently have significantly lower annual costs of cancer at this point.
While it has been long established that tobacco use is linked to the development of lung cancer, the data revealed that other bad habits, such as inactivity and poor nutrition, can also impact the risk of cancer. For example, inactivity and poor nutrition are often associated with weight gain, but this research also demonstrated that men who are inactive have an increased risk of developing colon cancer (relative risk score = 1.61, which means 61 per cent more likely to develop colon cancer than someone who is active). As a result, inactivity can be attributable for $160 million of the cost to treat colon cancer globally, as per the research.
Up to half of all cancer-related deaths can be prevented by making healthy choices, like maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, eating properly, being physically active and undertaking recommended screening tests. However, this research and World Health Organization (WHO) data shows that bad habits continue to be prevalent in all markets.
In seven of ten markets, over 25 per cent of those populations are still regular smokers. Smoking is most prevalent in France and Turkey where 31 per cent of adults over the age of 15 are smokers.
French females and Turkish males were ranked highest groups for smokers at 31 per cent and 47 per cent respectively.
In terms of physical inactivity Saudi Arabia and the UK ranked bottom. 68.8 per cent of Saudi nationals and 63.3 per cent of British nationals over the age of 18 lead sedentary lifestyles, compared to only 15.6 per cent of Indians and 28 per cent of Germans.
EH News Bureau
