What are the risk factors for colorectal cancer?
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. 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 might 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.