Prevention, Risk and Screening »Learn Your Cancer Risk »What Are Risk Factors?

While physicians and researchers are unable to identify why some people develop cancer and others do not, certain characteristics or risk factors have been identified. These risk factors, when present, could increase an individual's chance of developing cancer. An important fact to remember when reading information about risk factors is that having certain risk factors does not mean that cancer will develop.

Behavioral risk factors

Any risk factor that you can change is classified as a behavioral risk factor. These types of factors include diet, exercise, smoking and alcohol consumption. These can often be reduced by changing certain lifestyle habits. Examples include quitting smoking, exercising more and maintaining a healthy diet.

Environmental risk factors

Things found in your surrounding environment that can elevate risk are called environmental risk factors. Examples of environmental risk factors include sun exposure, secondhand smoke, where you live and work and exposure to certain hazards such as asbestos, radon and pesticides. An important fact to remember is that continual exposure to these factors can contribute to an increased risk for certain diseases while isolated exposure often has little to no effect.

Biological Risk Factors

An individual's physical characteristics including age, gender and race can also affect their risk. When these types of characteristics affect risk, they are called biological risk factors. How an individual's biological characteristics affect their risk for certain diseases, including cancer, depends on those types of diseases. For example, certain cancers only affect men or women. Therefore, just being male or female can affect an individual's risk. Another example is age. Certain cancers develop more frequently in older populations. As a result, when a person reaches a certain age their risk for certain types of cancers can be elevated. Other biological features that can affect cancer risk include race and physical characteristics such as skin complexion.

Genetic Risk Factors

Some individuals inherit certain genes from their mother and / or father that can increase their risk for certain diseases, including cancer. These are called genetic risk factors. Characteristics in a family history that can indicate certain genetic risk factors include:

• relatives diagnosed with cancer at younger than usual ages
• multiple generations of relatives diagnosed with similar cancers on the same side of the family
• individual relatives with multiple types of cancer

Having this information assessed by a trained and qualified health professional is important as some families could have these characteristics as a result of chance rather than heredity.

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