LOUISVILLE, Ky. — According to research from the National Cancer Institute, an estimated 29,000 people in Kentucky will be diagnosed with some form of cancer in 2025.

The Louisville Metro Board of Health and Wellness is working to understand environmental risks that could lead to cancer and met with researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center to learn more about the disease's impact in the state. Vanderbilt researchers said around 80% of diagnoses are caused by environmental exposures and lifestyles. 

Martha Shrubsole, Vanderbilt University Medical Center research professor, is using wristbands to help determine what people are exposed to that can affect their health.

"You wear it for seven days; we send it just through the regular mail to participants, [providing] them with a postage paid return envelope for them to send it back to our lab,” Shrubsole said. 

She said firefighters, postpartum mothers, farmers and more have all worn the wristbands and they're still learning how one's environment affects them. 

"When we designed the study, we collect a lot of information about the individual ... but we also collect a lot of information, say about the communities that they're in, so that we can actually evaluate that,” she said.  

Interested participants between ages 40 and 70 are encouraged to apply online.