Just because you have a risk factor – or multiple risk factors – doesn't mean you'll get cancer. Most people who have risk factors for cancer don't get the disease. And many people who get cancer have none of the known risk factors. Still, you can help protect yourself by avoiding known risk factors when possible.
- Tobacco: Smoking, chewing, and being exposed second-hand smoke accounts for a third of all cancer deaths in the United States.
- Diet: A high fat, low-fiber diet, and being obese appear to have a link to cancer.
- Ultraviolet (UV) radiation: The sun's harmful rays contribute to premature aging of the skin, as well as skin cancer.
- Alcohol: Heavy drinkers are at increased risk for certain cancers. Even moderate drinking could increase the risk of breast cancer.
- Ionizing radiation: X-ray procedures, radioactive substances, and radiation from other sources in very high doses might damage cells.
- Chemicals and other substances: Well-known carcinogens include arsenic, asbestos, nickel, cadmium, uranium, radon, leather dust, naphthylamine, vinyl chloride, benzidene, benzene, wood dust, soots, tars, and oils.
- Hormone replacement therapy (HRT): The use of estrogen alone increases a woman's risk of cancer of the uterus. The combined use of estrogen and progestin increases the risk of invasive breast cancer.
- Diethylstilbestrol (DES): This synthetic form of estrogen was used during the 1940s and through 1971. Exposure to DES increases the risk of several cancers.
- Close relatives with certain types of cancer: It's unclear whether a family pattern of cancer is primarily due to heredity, factors in the family's environment or lifestyle, or just chance. Most cancer cases – perhaps as many as 90 percent – occur in people with no family history of the disease. Science is now looking at inherited genetic alterations that would increase a person's susceptibility to developing cancer.
- Age: The development of cancer usually requires multiple mutations, which might be why older people are more at risk for cancer. (They've had more time to accumulate gene mutations.) There can be a delay of several decades between exposure to a carcinogen and the onset of cancer.
- Bacteria: The bacterium H. pylori which causes stomach ulcers has been linked to stomach cancer.
- Viruses: Only a few viruses have been associated with the development of cancer:
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Virus |
Cancer |
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Epstein-Barr virus |
Burkitt's lymphoma |
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Human papillomavirus |
Cervical cancer |
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Hepatitis B virus |
Liver cancer |
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Human T-cell lymphotrophic virus |
Adult T-cell leukemia |
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Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus |
Kaposi's sarcoma |
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In its early stages, cancer usually is without symptoms. Make a point to schedule regular check-ups with your healthcare provider. |
