What are the risk factors for kidney cancer?
. Like most cancers, kidney cancer becomes more common as you get older. Two-thirds of all kidney cancers occur in people over the age of 60. Kidney cancer is also more common in men: 60% of cases and in men and only 40% in women. Obesity is a major risk factor, involved in one quarter of all cases of kidney cancer. Another major risk is smoking, which increases the risk of getting kidney cancer between two and three times. Smaller increases in risk have also been found for people with kidney diseases and people working in the iron and steel industries.
A risk factor is anything that increases a person’s chance of getting a disease. The leading risk factor for renal cell carcinoma is smoking, with approximately 30 percent of cases in men and 25 percent of cases in women directly attributable to the habit. Research indicates that smokers have double the risk of developing kidney cancer, compared with nonsmokers. This is because some of the carcinogens (cancer-causing substances) from tobacco smoke are absorbed from the lungs and enter the bloodstream. These chemicals are then filtered from the blood by the kidneys, where they can injure kidney cells, potentially causing cancer. Another risk factor for kidney cancer is workplace exposure to asbestos (an insulating material that is currently banned because of its link with lung cancer and other types of cancer), cadmium (a type of metal used in metalworking), or organic solvents, especially trichloroethylene. Being overweight also appears to affect risk, with some experts attributing as
A. Like most cancers, kidney cancer becomes more common as you get older. Two-thirds of all kidney cancers occur in people over the age of 60. Kidney cancer is also more common in men: 60% of cases and in men and only 40% in women. Obesity is a major risk factor, involved in one quarter of all cases of kidney cancer. Another major risk is smoking, which increases the risk of getting kidney cancer between two and three times. Smaller increases in risk have also been found for people with kidney diseases and people working in the iron and steel industries.
