Is Following a Cancer-Protective Lifestyle Linked to Reduced Cancer Mortality Risk?

This study investigates the association between a cancer protective lifestyle (defined based on the revised World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) cancer prevention recommendations) and mortality in Switzerland. Based on the cross-sectional, population-based National Nutrition Survey, menuCH ( = 2057), adherence to the WCRF/AICR recommendations was assessed a score. Quasipoisson regression models were fitted to examine the association of adherence to the WCRF/AICR recommendations with mortality at the Swiss district-level. Spatial autocorrelation was tested with global Moran's . Integrated nested Laplace approximation models were fitted when significant spatial autocorrelation was detected. Participants with higher cancer prevention scores had a significant decrease in all-cause (relative risk 0.95; 95% confidence interval 0.92, 0.99), all-cancer (0.93; 0.89, 0.97), upper aero-digestive tract cancer (0.87; 0.78, 0.97), and prostate cancer (0.81; 0.68, 0.94) mortality, compared to those with lower scores. The inverse association between adherence to the WCRF/AICR recommendations and mortality points out the potential of the lifestyle recommendations to decrease mortality and especially the burden of cancer in Switzerland.