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What Are Cancer Risk Factors?
A cancer risk factor may
mean you have an increased chance to develop cancer. It doesn't
mean that you will develop cancer. Some people have a greater
than average chance to get a certain cancer because they have
one or more risk factors.
Doctors are still learning
the role of risk factors in different cancers. Some risk factors
make it very likely that a person will develop cancer; others
seem to increase a person's risk only slightly.
Risk factors fall into four
broad groups and can overlap. For some cancers, different types
of risk factors can work together to increase cancer risk.
- 1. Lifestyle or behavioral
risk factors.
These are things people
do that make it more likely that they will develop cancer.
For example, smoking is strongly linked to lung cancer and
a type of sunlight rays (ultraviolet, or U.V., rays) are linked
to melanoma, a form of skin cancer.
Lifestyle factors can also
reduce cancer risk, such as eating plenty of fruits, vegetables,
and fiber to lower the risk for cancer of the colon and rectum.
Back
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National Cancer Institute
April 1999
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