Risk Factors

• Age: renal cancer is most common in the 55-60 year age range
• Gender: more frequent in men than women (2:1)
• Race: caucasian men are at somewhat higher risk than African-Amerian men (transitional cell carcinoma is twice as common among Caucasian men as among African-American men).
• Smoking: smokers are four times as likely to develop transitional cell kidney and ureter cancer as non-smokers.
• Family history: people with a family history of kidney or ureter cancer, especially when other inherited disorders are present, such as tuberous sclerosis, von Hippel-Laundau's disease, Sturge-Weber syndrome, neurofibromatosis, and ataxia telangiectasia.
• Environment
  • Exposure to thorotrast
  • People living in urban, industrialized areas
  • People whose jobs expose them to trace metals such as cadmium
  • Exposure to certain chemicals such as nitrosamines, aflatoxins, lead acetate, and potassium bromate
  • Exposure to asbestos
• Intake: use of analgesic phenacetin for a prolonged time