BEHAVIOR CHANGES COULD SHARPLY CUT
CANCER DEATH RATES, SAYS INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE

By Becky Ham, Staff Writer
Health Behavior News Service

Behavior changes, along with expanded screening efforts, could prevent almost 100,000 new cancer cases and 60,000 cancer deaths each year. The biggest drop in new cancer cases and deaths would probably occur for lung and colon cancer, the report suggests.

The power of prevention is not a new concept in cancer studies, but the IOM report authors say that the time is ripe to devote more resources toward prevention research and practices.

"What's new here is the growing body of evidence confirming that interventions that get people to change their behaviors do work," say Susan J. Curry, Ph.D., of the University of Illinois at Chicago and colleagues.

"Although personal experience illustrates for most people the great difficulty of achieving sustained behavioral change, Americans have made substantial improvements in their health habits in the past few decades," they say.

The report recommends that state and local governments vigorously enforce existing tobacco sale laws and suggest that Internet sales of tobacco should be more tightly regulated. The report also recommends higher tobacco taxes, calling them "the single most effective method for reducing the demand for tobacco."

The report also suggests that private and public insurers cover evidence-based cancer prevention and detection services, including nicotine replacement therapy, breast cancer screening for women age 50 and older, cervical cancer screening for all sexually active women and colorectal screening for all adults 50 and older.

Congress should increase support for primary care programs that serve low-income and uninsured patients and boost funding to evaluate the pros, cons and costs of various screening methods, according to the report.

Federal agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services should evaluate programs like Medicaid and Medicare to determine whether they offer adequate cancer prevention services. The IOM report notes, for example, that Medicare does not cover any costs for programs to quit smoking.

Resources devoted to studying and implementing cancer prevention techniques could also benefit cardiovascular disease and diabetes, especially among the racial and ethnic minority groups who bear a disproportionate burden of these diseases, the study concludes.