Each year, millions of lives in the UK are impacted or cut short from the effects of three modifiable risk factors: tobacco, alcohol and overweight/obesity. Collectively these risk factors are responsible for tens of thousands of cases of cancer in the UK annually, while also increasing the risk of other largely preventable conditions including cardiovascular disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, liver disease and mental health conditions.
This briefing paper explores what we currently know about the prevalence and impact of these risk
factors, focusing on how they overlap in the population. The paper describes:
- The prevalence of multiple (co-occurring) risk factors in the adult population of England
- Associations between risk factors
- The contribution of multiple risk factors to health inequalities
- The health impacts of multiple risk factors
- The benefits of taking a coherent approach to tackling multiple risk factors