Dra. Troncoso-Pantoja, Claudia

Cancer is a chronic non-communicable disease associated with a high mortality burden. The prevalence of cancer is increasing rapidly worldwide. However, this scenario will be worse in low and middle-income countries such as Chile, where 70% of cancer deaths occur. The aim of this review was to assess the epidemiological scenario of cancer and its projection for the Chilean population. In Chile, 53,365 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in 2018, led by prostate, colorectal, breast, stomach, lung and gallbladder cancer. From 1986 to 2016, cancer increased by 109%. When we reviewed mortality by sex, stomach and prostate cancer were responsible for more than 30% of cancer deaths among men. However, for women the first three places were occupied by breast, colorectal and lung cancer, as in the rest of the world. Considering that 40% of cancers are related to unhealthy lifestyles, working on the prevention of modifiable risk factors represents an opportunity for the creation of public health policies that allow changes at the environmental and individual level.

Objective: To investigate the association between a lifestyle score and all-cause mortality in the Chilean population. Design: Prospective study. Settings: The score was based on seven modifiable behaviours: salt intake, fruit and vegetable intake, alcohol consumption, sleep duration, smoking, physical activity and sedentary behaviours. 1-point was assigned for each healthy recommendation. Points were summed to create an unweighted score from 0 (less healthy) to 7 (healthiest). According to their score, participants were then classified into: less healthy (0–2 points), moderately healthy (3–4 points) and the healthiest (5–7 points). Associations between the categories of lifestyle score and all-cause mortality were investigated using Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for confounders. Nonlinear associations were also investigated. Participants: 2706 participants from the Chilean National Health Survey 2009–2010. Results: After a median follow-up of 10·9 years, 286 (10·6 %) participants died. In the maximally adjusted model, and compared with the healthiest participants, those less healthy had 2·55 (95 % CI 1·75, 3·71) times higher mortality risk due to any cause. Similar trends were identified for the moderately healthy group. Moreover, there was a significant trend towards increasing the mortality risk when increasing unhealthy behaviours (hazard ratio model 3: 1·61 (95 % CI 1·34, 1·94)). There was no evidence of nonlinearity between the lifestyle score and all-cause mortality. Conclusion: Individuals in the less healthy lifestyle category had higher mortality risk than the healthiest group. Therefore, public health strategies should be implemented to promote adherence to a healthy lifestyle across the Chilean population.