A risk factor is anything that affects your chance of getting a disease such as cancer. Different cancers have different risk factors. For example, too much exposure to sunlight is a risk factor for skin cancer. Smoking is a risk factor for cancers of the lung, mouth, larynx (voice box), bladder, kidney, pancreas, and several other organs.
But risk factors don't tell us everything. Having a risk factor, or even several, does not mean that you will definitely get the disease. And many people who get the disease may have few or no known risk factors. Even if a person with Hodgkin disease has one or more risk factors, it is often very hard to know how much these factors might have contributed to the lymphoma.
Scientists have found a few risk factors that may make a person more likely to develop Hodgkin disease, although it's not always clear why these factors increase risk.
Epstein-Barr virus infection/mononucleosis
People who have had infectious mononucleosis (sometimes called mono for short), an infection caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), have an increased risk of Hodgkin disease. The risk of developing Hodgkin disease for people who have had infectious mononucleosis appears to be a few times higher than for people who have not had the disease, although the overall risk is still very small.
The exact role of EBV in the development of Hodgkin disease is not clear. DNA from the virus is found in Reed-Sternberg cells in about half of all patients with Hodgkin disease. But the other half of patients with Hodgkin disease have no evidence of Epstein-Barr virus in their cancer cells.
Age
Hodgkin disease is most common in early adulthood (ages 15 to 40, especially in a person's 20s) and in late adulthood (after age 55).
Gender
Hodgkin disease occurs slightly more often in males than in females.
Geography
Hodgkin disease is most common in the United States, Canada, and northern Europe, and is least common in Asian countries.
Family history
Brothers and sisters of young people with this disease have a higher risk for Hodgkin disease. The risk is very high for an identical twin of a person with Hodgkin disease. But a family link is still uncommon, and is seen in only around 5% of all cases.
It's not clear why family history might increase risk. Some families may have a higher rate of Hodgkin disease because of similar early childhood exposures to infections (such as Epstein-Barr virus), inherited genes that make them more susceptible, or some combination of these factors. Some researchers have found certain changes in the genes responsible for immunity in patients with Hodgkin disease.
Socioeconomic status
The risk of Hodgkin disease is greater in people with a higher socioeconomic background. The reason for this is not clear.
HIV infection
The risk of Hodgkin disease is increased in people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
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