We’re not exactly sure what causes cancer. We don’t always know why one person gets it and another doesn’t. However, we do know a lot about the risk factors for cancer. The more we know about the risk factors, the more we can do to protect ourselves.
A risk factor is anything that raises or lowers a person’s chance of getting a disease.You can control some of them, but not all of them.
Risk factors for cancer include:
A lifestyle choice, like what a person eats
An environmental exposure, like smoke from other people’s cigarettes
Genetic make-up or family history
Another disease or medical problem
These things mix together with different effects on different people.Some people are more sensitive to risk factors than others. Just because you have one or even several risk factors does not mean you will definitely get cancer. And avoiding risk factors does not guarantee you will be healthy.
