What are the special risk factors for kidney cancer

Depending on the type of kidney cancer, the inducing factors are also very different, such as family heredity, smoking, obesity, etc. Even medication can be called one of the factors that induce kidney cancer.

According to epidemiological characteristics, kidney cancer can be divided into hereditary kidney cancer (familial kidney cancer) and sporadic kidney cancer. Kidney cancer with specific gene changes and a tendency to cluster in families is called hereditary or familial kidney cancer. Hereditary kidney cancer accounts for about 2% to 4% of all kidney cancers. The vast majority of kidney cancers diagnosed clinically are sporadic kidney cancers.

Causes of Hereditary Kidney Cancer

Hereditary renal cancer is often associated with some hereditary cancer syndromes. At present, at least four hereditary syndromes related to renal cancer have been identified: ① VHL (von Hippel-Lindau) syndrome; ② hereditary papillary renal carcinoma (HPRC); ③ hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal cell cancer (HLRCC); ④ BHD (Birt-Hogg-Dube) syndrome.

Causes of sporadic renal cell carcinoma

The cause of sporadic renal cancer is still unknown, but some factors related to the incidence of renal cancer have been found.

1. Smoking Among the causes of kidney cancer, the only recognized environmental risk factor is tobacco exposure. Smoking can increase the risk of kidney cancer, but a large number of prospective studies observing the relationship between kidney cancer and smoking have shown that smoking is only a moderate risk factor.

2. Obesity The degree of obesity is generally expressed by the body mass index (BMI). As this index increases, the risk of kidney cancer will also increase, and the correlation seems to be stronger in men and women.

Hypertension and antihypertensive drugs

Patients with high blood pressure, those who use diuretics, especially thiazide diuretics, and other antihypertensive drugs, have a 1.4-2 times higher risk of kidney cancer. Many studies have shown that high blood pressure is a risk factor for kidney cancer, but it is not clear whether it is high blood pressure itself or antihypertensive treatment that is a risk factor for kidney cancer.