Key Facts About Kidney Cancer

6. Causes and Risk Factors

It's not known what the causes of kidney cancer are, but there are factors that put folks at more risk. Smoking is a lifestyle factor worth noting, and the risk gradually drops in individuals who stop inhaling the carcinogens in tobacco. Obesity causes hormonal shifts that can lead to RCC, and the long-term use of painkillers like acetaminophen or aspirin may be connected to RCC. In terms of medical conditions, high blood pressure increases the risk of kidney cancer, as does chronic kidney disease or the long-term use of pain medications, for example.

If your workplace exposes you to arsenic, cadmium, or trichloroethylene, it increases the risk for RCC. Some risk factors, such as a family history of kidney cancer or being ethnically American Indian/Alaska Native, are beyond your control. The same goes for inherited conditions such as sickle cell trait, Cowden syndrome, Birt-Hogg-Dubé (BHD) syndrome, and von Hippel-Lindau disease. If one or more of these risk factors applies to you, it doesn't mean that a cancer diagnosis is a sure thing. It simply means that the odds of you getting kidney cancer are higher.