(Music)
Did You Know? Video Series from
the National Cancer Institute: Risk Factors for Cancer
Did you know that a person’s age, lifestyle,
environment, genetic makeup, and family history can increase the
likelihood of developing cancer?
These are called risk factors.
Advancing age is the most important risk factor
for cancer.
The median age at diagnosis for all cancers combined is
66 years, and one-fourth of new diagnoses
are in people ages 65 to 74.
Many risk factors are related to a person’s lifestyle or
overall health.
Excess body weight contributes to one in five cancer-related
deaths in the U.S.
Obesity increases the risk of breast, colorectal, and
other types of cancer.
Carcinogens are substances that cause cancer by damaging DNA.
One common example of a carcinogen is tobacco,
a proven cause of cancer.
A person can be exposed to tobacco by smoking cigarettes,
cigars, or cigarillos, or by using snuff or chewing tobacco.
They can also be exposed by inhaling tobacco smoke from
smokers nearby.
This is called secondhand smoke or environmental tobacco smoke.
As depicted on the screen, smoking accounts for at least
three out of ten cancer deaths in the U.S.
Tobacco is most infamously associated with lung cancer,
but it also causes throat, stomach, pancreatic, and
many other cancers.
Drinking alcohol increases the risk of developing cancers
of the mouth, throat, esophagus, larynx, liver,
colon, and breast.
The more a person drinks,
the more likely they are to develop cancer.
The risk is even higher for those who drink alcohol
and also use tobacco.
Environmental and chemical carcinogens are responsible for
up to 19 percent of cancer cases.
Individuals may be involuntarily exposed to carcinogens if they
work in certain mining, welding, agricultural, manufacturing,
printing, or painting industries in which they are exposed to
substances such as those shown here.
Exposure to these substances may lead to many types of cancer,
including lung and bladder cancers and leukemia.
Natural and artificial UV rays from the sun or tanning beds can
increase the risk of developing skin cancers, including
melanoma, basal cell skin cancer,
and squamous cell skin cancer.
Some viruses, such as Human Papillomaviruses, Hepatitis B
Virus, Hepatitis C Virus, and several others can increase your
risk of cancer either by damaging DNA,
causing chronic inflammation, or weakening the immune system.
It’s important to be aware of your risk factors,
even those you can’t prevent.
For example, inherited genetic mutations play a major role in
5 to 10 percent of cancers.
In breast and ovarian cancers, certain mutations in the BRCA1
and BRCA2 genes are well-known risk factors.
Genetic tests can tell whether a person has one or more of the
inherited mutations that are known to increase cancer risk.
However, not everyone who inherits the mutation will
develop cancer.
Talk with your doctor about genetic testing if you think you
may have inherited a mutation that increases your cancer risk.
You can also ask about prevention and testing related
to HPV, Hepatitis B and C, HIV, and other infections.
To reduce your overall cancer risk, maintain a healthy weight
through proper diet and exercise, protect your skin from
the sun and don’t use tanning beds, don’t smoke or use other
tobacco products, and limit alcohol intake.
For more information on risk factors, go to cancer.gov or
call 1-800-4-CANCER.
For more cancer statistics, go to seer.cancer.gov
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute
Produced April 2018
(Music)