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Comment by xpda | Hacker News Reader

Different cancers are different. Skin cancer, both basal cell and melanoma, is usually caused by the sun. Other cancers have a very strong genetic correlation. This study did not consider the most common cancer in men, prostate cancer, or breast cancer. It's interesting that random cell division is such a strong factor in cancer, but it is completely incorrect to say that luck has a bigger effect than behavior for all types of cancer.

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This is an excellent comment, but I want to point out that getting a cancer that has a strong genetic correlation is still "luck" rather than "behavior" from the perspective of a cancer patient.

There is a major difference, which is that genetic correlations can be tested for, and a strong one can indicate that frequent testing is needed, catching cancers earlier when they're more treatable. For many cancers, catching them early is critical.

The tricky thing with correlation is that behavior can still act as a "middle-man" for genetic correlation. For instance, a genetic susceptibility to addictive behavior could lead to higher rates of smoking, and therefore lung cancer. (While some of the more obvious factors might be corrected for, there's no way that all of them would be.)

I once heard stress has a big role in cell division quality. Could it be they merely didn't take stress into account and credited luck instead?

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