Cancer Risk Factors

The following are various types of cancer and their risk factors:

* Breast- Family history of breast cancer, obesity, late childbearing and childlessness
* Bladder- Smoking (nearly half of cases), hair dye - bladder cancer is more common in men than women
* Cervical- First intercourse at an early age, multiple sexual partners, smoking, history of genital herpes
* Colorectal- Being over 50 with colon polyps or ulcerative colitis, family history of these disorders or colon cancer, high-fat, low-fiber diet
* Leukemia- Exposure to radiation, benzene and other chemicals
* Lung- Smoking (83 percent of cases), exposure to asbestos, radiation and secondhand tobacco smoke
* Lymphoma- Being over 50, no other known risk factors
* Oral- Smoking, chewing tobacco and heavy alcohol use
* Pancreatic- Smoking, high-fat diet
* Prostate- Risk increases with age; more than 80 percent of cases occur after 65
* Skin- Fair skin, severe sunburn in childhood, frequent sun exposure, family history of skin cancer
* Uterine- Being post-menopausal with a history of infertility, ovulation failure or abnormal bleeding, also obesity, hypertension and diabetes