Causes of kidney cancer

Risks and causes of kidney cancer

Kidney cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. It appears even more often in people who are over 65 years old, while on the other hand, it is less common for people who are under 50. Male population is affected by kidney cancer more than female. It is believed that men smoke more cigarettes and therefore are more liable to kidney cancer.

In medicine, some risk factors that cause kidney cancer are known, and they include smoking, chemicals in the working environment, genes, obesity and kidney diseases that require dialysis. There are some other factors that may lead to kidney cancer appearance, since it may also occur due to high blood pressure and a long usage of mild pain killers.

More about risks and causes of kidney cancer

As we have mentioned, obesity is one of the risk factors for the occurrence of kidney cancer. A person is categorized in obese group if his/her body mass index is over 30, or approximately obese is a person whose weight is 25% more than his height. Because of obesity, high blood pressure and other health disorders may develop, including kidney cancer. It is thought that hormonal imbalance is the main culprit for kidney cancer development. In comparison to non-smokers, smokers have double chances of getting kidney cancer. There is a possibility that the chances for kidney cancer will decrease if a smoker decides to quit smoking.

Kidney diseases also belong to a group of risk factors that are responsible for kidney cancer development. These types of diseases usually demand dialysis and they increase the risk of developing cysts. There is a number of people who can get kidney cancer because they have faulty genes and the medical name for that is familial kidney cancer. It appears due to a fault in the DNA, and all that is needed is a small mistake in the chain of DNA and one abnormal gene, and a risk of kidney cancer turns into reality.

While we are reading these lines, scientist are trying to find out what specific gene is causing so much trouble, so that they can make it as it is supposed to be. It is a terrible fact that people who have genetic predispositions to kidney cancer have, in the most cases, caner in both kidneys. They can have tumors in the kidneys and have a risk of developing kidney cancer at an earlier age than the other risk groups.