risk factors

Last reviewed 03/2023

risk factors

A person's risk of developing kidney cancer depends on many factors.

• smoking
• a strong dose-dependent increase in risk is seen associated with numbers of cigarettes smoked per day
  
  
• higher body mass index
  
  
• hypertension
  
  
• other risk factors include:
• occcupatinonal exposure - to asbestos, trichloroethylene, or thiazide, and use of acetaminophen or other analgesic drugs
• polycystic kidney disease
• chronic hepatitis C infection
  
  
• genetics
• 2% - 3% of RCC are hereditary and several autosomal dominant syndromes have been described e.g. - von Hippel-Lindau (VHL), hereditary papillary renal carcinoma (HPRC) (1,2)
• RCC risk is 2.2-2.6 times higher in people with a first-degree relative with kidney cancer
• RCC risk does not differ significantly between people whose sibling is affected and people whose parent is affected
• RCCrisk is higher in people whose parent has/had lung or prostate cancer, and those whose sibling has/had bladder or thyroid cancer, melanoma, or non-Hodgkin lymphoma,

An estimated 42% of kidney cancers in the UK are linked to lifestyle factors including smoking (24%) and overweight and obesity (24%) (2).

Reference:

• (1) Chittoria B, Rini BI. Renal cell carcinoma. Cleveland clinic, Center for continuing education 2013
• (2) Cancer research UK 2015. Kidney cancer incidence statistics.