What are the risk factors for colorectal cancer?
Although the cause of colorectal cancer has not yet been identified, there are a number of known risk factors that increase a person’s chance of developing the disease. It is important to remember that having one or more of these factors will not guarantee the onset of colorectal cancer. However there may be ways to reduce your chances of developing it. A family history of colorectal cancer significantly increases the risk of developing cancer as well. If a parent, sibling, or child is affected the probability of a family member also having the disease increases by 20%. The two most common inherited risk factors are familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) and hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC). Patients with FAP develop hundreds of benign polyps in the colon and rectum between the ages of 5 and 40, most becoming cancerous by the age of 40 if the colon is not surgically removed. This is a rare condition accounting for about 1% of all colorectal patients. HNPCC, the most comm
A risk factor is anything that affects your chance of getting a disease such as cancer. Different cancers have different risk factors. For example, exposing skin to strong sunlight is a risk factor for skin cancer, and smoking is a risk factor for cancers of the lungs, larynx (voice box), mouth, throat, esophagus, kidneys, bladder, colon, and several other organs. But risk factors don’t tell us everything. Having a risk factor, or even several risk factors, does not mean that you will get the disease. And some people who get the disease may not have any known risk factors. Even if a person with colorectal cancer has a risk factor, it is often very hard to know how much that risk factor may have contributed to the cancer. Researchers have found several risk factors that may increase a person’s chance of developing colorectal polyps or colorectal cancer. Risk factors you cannot change Age While younger adults can develop colorectal cancer, the chances of developing colorectal cancer incr
