Professor Sir Richard Peto
Richard Peto
FRS
Emeritus Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology
Sir Richard Peto, FRS, is Emeritus Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology at the University of Oxford.
He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1989 for introducing meta-analyses of randomised trials, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1999 for services to epidemiology, and received in 2010 and 2011 the Cancer Research UK and the BMJ Lifetime Achievement Award.
Richard Peto, Rory Collins and others in the Clinical Trial Service Unit & Epidemiological Studies Unit (CTSU) have, by their large randomised trials, large prospective studies and worldwide meta-analyses, increased substantially the estimated importance of blood lipids, blood pressure and smoking as causes of premature death.
Peto has recently collaborated in major studies of alcohol in Russia and of malaria in Africa and India. His investigations into the worldwide health effects of smoking and benefits of stopping at particular ages have helped to communicate effectively the vast and growing burden of disease from tobacco use. In addition, his work has helped change national and international attitudes about smoking and public health, contributing to many smokers stopping this harmful activity.
He was the first to describe clearly the future worldwide health effects of current smoking patterns, predicting one billion deaths from tobacco in the present century if current smoking patterns persist, as against 'only' 100 million in the 20th century.
Key publications
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Design and analysis of randomized clinical trials requiring prolonged observation of each patient. II. analysis and examples.
Journal article
Peto R. et al, (1977), Br J Cancer, 35, 1 - 39
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The causes of cancer: quantitative estimates of avoidable risks of cancer in the United States today.
Journal article
Doll R. and Peto R., (1981), J Natl Cancer Inst, 66, 1191 - 1308
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Effects of chemotherapy and hormonal therapy for early breast cancer on recurrence and 15-year survival: an overview of the randomised trials.
Journal article
Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group (EBCTCG) None., (2005), Lancet, 365, 1687 - 1717
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COLLABORATIVE OVERVIEW OF RANDOMIZED TRIALS OF ANTIPLATELET THERAPY .1. PREVENTION OF DEATH, MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION, AND STROKE BY PROLONGED ANTIPLATELET THERAPY IN VARIOUS CATEGORIES OF PATIENTS
Journal article
ALTMAN R. et al, (1994), BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL, 308, 81 - 100
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Global effects of smoking, of quitting, and of taxing tobacco.
Journal article
Jha P. and Peto R., (2014), N Engl J Med, 370, 60 - 68
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Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years' observations on male British doctors.
Journal article
Doll R. et al, (2004), BMJ, 328
Recent publications
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Halving premature death and improving quality of life at all ages
Journal article
LEWINGTON S. et al, (2024), The Lancet
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Infectious pathogens and risk of esophageal, gastric and duodenal cancers and ulcers in China: A case-cohort study.
Journal article
Kartsonaki C. et al, (2024), Int J Cancer, 154, 1423 - 1432
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Conventional and genetic associations of adiposity with 1463 proteins in relatively lean Chinese adults.
Journal article
Yao P. et al, (2023), Eur J Epidemiol, 38, 1089 - 1103
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The relative and attributable risks of cardia and non-cardia gastric cancer associated with Helicobacter pylori infection in China: a case-cohort study.
Journal article
Yang L. et al, (2021), Lancet Public Health, 6, e888 - e896
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Body-mass index, blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular mortality in Cuba: prospective study of 146,556 participants.
Journal article
Armas Rojas NB. et al, (2021), BMC Public Health, 21