Obesity

As a researcher who has studied these phenomena in Samoans since 1976, Stephen McGarvey contributed extensive data on temporal trends to both reports and helped to write the diabetes paper. He also sees in the global data some of the same patterns he's seen play out in the Samoan islands.

RNZI reports the focus of World Health Day this year is Beat Diabetes with emphasis on scaling up prevention, strengthening care and enhancing surveillance.

The Director-General of the Pacific Community Colin Tukuitonga said diabetes rates in the region continue to climb at an alarming rate and a multi-dimensional approach is needed if there is to be any hope of slowing let alone stopping the trend.

Being Female:

While it might seem obvious that women are more likely to get breast cancer, men can get it, too. However, a woman is about 100 times more likely than a man to get breast cancer.

Age:

A woman's risk for breast cancer increases with age. In fact, about two-thirds of invasive breast cancers are discovered in women age 55 or older.

Inherited Gene Mutations: