A risk factor is anything that changes your chances of getting a disease like cancer. Different cancers have different risk factors. For example, too much exposure to sunlight is a risk factor for skin cancer, and smoking is a risk factor for many different kinds of cancers.
But risk factors don't tell us everything. Having a risk factor, or even several, does not mean that you will get the disease. Many people with risk factors never develop these cancers, while people with these cancers may have few or no known risk factors.
Researchers have found a few risk factors that make a person more likely to develop nasal cavity and paranasal sinus cancer. Most of these are exposures to inhaled substances in the workplace.
Workplace exposures
People who work in certain jobs are more likely to develop nasal cavity and paranasal sinus cancer. The increased risk seems to be related to breathing in certain substances while at work, such as:
- Wood dusts from carpentry (such as furniture and cabinet builders), sawmills, and other wood-related industries
- Dusts from textiles (textile plants)
- Leather dusts (shoemaking)
- Flour (baking and flour milling)
- Nickel and chromium dust
- Mustard gas (a poison used in chemical warfare)
- Radium (a radioactive element rarely used today)
These workplace exposures have less clear links to nasal and paranasal sinus cancer:
- Glues
- Formaldehyde
- Organic solvents
Smoking
Some studies have found that smoking may increase the risk of nasal cavity cancer.
Human papilloma virus infection
The human papilloma virus (HPV) is a group of over 100 related viruses. They are called papilloma viruses because some of them cause a type of growth called a papilloma, which is more commonly known as a wart. Some types of HPV can cause cancers of the cervix, vagina, anus, vulva, penis, mouth, and throat. HPV also seems to be a factor in some cases of nasal cavity and paranasal sinus cancer. The outlook for HPV-associated head and neck cancers appears to be better than for HPV-negative head and neck cancers.
Retinoblastoma
People with the inherited form of retinoblastoma, a type of eye cancer that typically appears in children, have an increased risk of nasal cavity cancer if their retinoblastoma was treated with radiation.
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