Am I Likely to Develop Cancer?
actor is anything that raises or lowers a person’s chance of developing a disease. Although doctors can seldom explain why one person develops the disease and another does not, researchers have identified specific factors that increase a person’s chances of developing certain types of cancers.
Cancer risk factors can be divided into four groups:
- Behavioral risk factors are things you do, such as smoking, drinking alcohol, using tanning beds, eating unhealthy foods, being overweight and not getting enough exercise.
- Environmental risk factors include things in the environment around you, such as UV radiation, secondhand smoke, pollution, pesticides and other toxins.
- Hereditary risk factors relate to specific mutated genes inherited from your parents. You have a higher likelihood of developing cancer if you inherit one of these mutated genes.
