Healthy lifestyle and cancer risk among Chinese population in the Dongfeng-Tongji cohort

Abstract

Background Studies on the association between healthy lifestyle and cancer risk are limited among the old Chinese population. Methods The healthy lifestyle score was derived from smoking, drinking, diet, body mass index and physical activity among 23734 retired employees from the Dongfeng-Tongji Cohort. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The rate advancement periods (RAPs) and the population attributable risk percentage (PAR%) were estimated to indicate the benefits of removing risk lifestyle factors. Results During a median follow-up of 8.16 years, 2023 cancer cases were identified. Compared with 0–2 points of the healthy lifestyle score, the HRs were 0.87 (95% CI: 0.76, 0.99), 0.83 (95% CI: 0.73, 0.94), and 0.74 (95% CI: 0.64, 0.86) for 3, 4, and 5 points, respectively, with the corresponding RAPs of −4.40 (95% CI: −8.39, −0.41), −5.84 (95% CI: −9.77, −1.90), and −9.14 (95% CI: −14.03, −4.25), respectively. Approximately 15% of incident cancer cases among total population and 22% among men would be prevented by following all 5 healthy lifestyle factors. Conclusions The current study suggests that healthy lifestyle could reduce cancer risk in the retired Chinese population, especially in males. Key messages Healthy lifestyle derived by smoking, drinking, diet, body mass index and physical activity presented a strong protective effect on cancer risk among the retired Chinese population, especially in males. We employed the rate advancement periods and the population attributable risk percentage to indicate the benefits of adopting healthy lifestyle and we found that following all 5 healthy lifestyle factors could delay the risk of developing cancer by 9.14 years and prevent 15% of incident cancer cases.