According to the NIH’s National Cancer Institute, approximately two million people were diagnosed with cancer and over 600,000 died from the disease in the United States last year. Research shows that more than 40% of these cases and nearly half of these deaths were linked to preventable factors, such as smoking, obesity, lack of physical activity and excessive sun exposure.

Making healthy choices – such as quitting smoking, or never smoking in the first place, maintaining a healthy weight, staying active, protecting your skin from the sun and getting vaccinated against pathogens that lead to certain cancers – can significantly lower an individual’s cancer risk.

In the United States, some of the biggest strides in reducing cancer cases and deaths have come from public education and policy efforts.

For instance, nationwide campaigns to curb tobacco use have helped lower smoking rates from 42.4% of U.S. adults in 1965 to 11.5% in 2021. Yet, smoking still causes nearly 20% of all cancer cases and 30% of cancer-related deaths, including 80% to 90% of lung cancer deaths.

In 2023, the Lung Cancer Screening Program alongside the Office of Community Outreach & Engagement (COE), developed the lung cancer pre-screening – a series of questions to determine an individual’s need to undergo a lung cancer screening. To date, 106 pre-screenings have been administered in the community, resulting in 29 referrals to the Lung Cancer Screening Program and 57 referrals to the Smoking Cessation Program.

Not all communities experience the same level of cancer risk, though. Certain racial and ethnic minorities and other medically underserved groups face a higher burden of preventable cancer risk factors. To truly reduce cancer risk for everyone, evidence-based strategies that address these modifiable factors must be implemented.

For example, Ohio recently passed legislation that improves access to screening for all adult women. When breast cancer is caught early, there's a 99% chance of survival. Ohio House Bill 371 (HB 371) provides coverage for an annual mammogram for all adult women. However, for nearly 50% of women who have dense breast tissue, supplemental tests are needed in addition to a mammogram. Dense breast tissue masks cancer on mammograms and increases the risk of developing breast cancer. Supplemental tests include Breast MRI, Fast MRI, and Ultrasound.

In the Community

The Office of Community Outreach & Engagement at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center works to establish and strengthen community partnerships throughout the region by connecting members of the community as well as community organizations directly to researchers and clinicians at the Cancer Center. By leveraging these partnerships, the Cancer Center hopes to better address the cancer-related challenges in our region and, over time, reduce the overall burden of cancer.

The Office of Community Outreach & Engagement will accomplish these goals, in part, by:

• Sharing meaningful insights and data between the community and Cancer Center members to better understand the cancer burden in our ten-county region.
• Disseminating evidence-based research findings back to the community.
• Supporting opportunities for education and advocacy within the Cancer Center and the community.
• Utilizing programming that equips Cancer Center members with the skills to effectively engage with and listen to the community. More importantly, researchers should understand the value of community engagement in research and ensure that research is informed by the people it impacts.
• Establishing partnerships with key community organizations to facilitate the sharing of ideas between the community and Cancer Center members.

  One such partnership that focuses on these educational efforts is with We Engage 4 Health (WE4H) – a community health project supported by the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) Program of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). The goals of WE4H are to:

• Improve health and science knowledge in the community.
• Reduce chronic disease in communities where it occurs most.
• Increase citizens’ involvement in their own and community’s health.
• Strengthen science competencies and encourage STEM careers in youth.

  WE4H has created health outreach stories – a collection of graphic-style stories designed for all ages – which are a key component in sharing insights, data, evidence-based research and education on prevention, screening and early diagnosis.

  The Reducing Your Risk story, for example, features a conversation between Georgia and Vito regarding the average cancer risk and how risk can be decreased by making healthy choices – such as quitting smoking, or never smoking in the first place, maintaining a healthy weight, staying active, etc.

  This story, along with many others in the collection, is displayed at numerous community events throughout the year with Cancer Center COE staff and volunteers present to not only read through the stories with attendees but to also share more resources and information on the topics presented. This month, the Office of Community Outreach & Engagement (COE) attended the Heart of Northside Health Fair on Saturday, February 15^th, which brought together over fifteen organizations to offer various screenings and educational materials.

  February also marked a year of partnership between the Cancer Center and the 513 Relief Bus through which community members have been able to learn about key cancer prevention strategies. One such event is the 513 Relief Bus’s Everything Hamilton County event on Thursday, February 27^th. This event focused on bringing all the Hamilton County services and resources under one roof to make it easier for community members to receive the assistance and urgent information they need.

  In the Laboratory

  A Study to Compare Two Surgical Procedures in Individuals with BRCA1 Mutations to Assess Reduced Risk of Ovarian Cancer, led by Dr. Jackson, compares two surgical procedures – removing just the fallopian tubes versus removing both the fallopian tubes and ovaries – to see how well they reduce ovarian cancer risk in individuals with BRCA1 mutations. The study aims to help doctors determine if these procedures offer similar protection against ovarian cancer.

  BRCA1 and BRCA2 are genes that help repair damaged DNA. Everyone inherits two copies, one from each parent. However, inheriting a harmful mutation in either gene increases the risk of several cancers, especially breast and ovarian cancer, often developing at a younger age. While a normal second copy can initially protect against cancer, it may be lost or altered over time, reducing DNA repair ability and increasing cancer risk.

  Between 39% and 58% of women with a harmful BRCA1 mutation will develop ovarian cancer (including fallopian tube and primary peritoneal cancer) in their lifetime. In comparison, only about 1.1% of women in the general population will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Amanda L. Jackson, MD Member, Experimental Therapeutics Research Program University of Cincinnati Cancer Center Associate Professor, Division of Gynecologic Oncology & Advanced Pelvic Surgery Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology University of Cincinnati College of Medicine