Risk Factors For Testicular Cancer

testicles The exact reason why some men develop testicular cancer is still not known. There are however a number of factors that increase the risk for the disease. A risk factor is anything that may increase a person's chance of developing a disease. It may be an activity, such as smoking, diet, family history, or many other things. Different diseases, in this case testicular cancer, have different risk factors.

Even though the cause may be a mystery, research does show that some men are more likely than others to develop cancerous testicles. Possible risk factors include the following:

Age – Testicular cancer most often occurs in men between the ages of 15 and 35.
Race and ethnicity – The rate of testicular cancer is higher in Caucasians than in other populations.
Occupational hazards – Miners, those who work with gas, food and beverage processing workers, utility workers and others are at increased risk.
Cryptorchidism – Failure of one or both testes to descend into the scrotum.
HIV infection.
Men whose mother used a hormone called DES (diethylstilbestrol) during pregnancy to prevent miscarriage.
Family history of testicular cancer.
Personal history of cancer in one testicle.

Although these factors can increase a person's risk, they do not necessarily cause the disease. For instance, some people with one or more risk factors never develop the disease, while others do and yet have exhibited no known risk factors. Nevertheless, knowing these risk factors can help to guide you into the appropriate actions like changing harmful behavior and being clinically monitored for the disease.

PRS Posted by PRS on Friday, September 7th, 2007