A risk factor is anything that affects a person's chance of getting a disease such as cancer. Different cancers have different risk factors. For example, exposing skin to strong sunlight is a risk factor for skin cancer. Smoking is a risk factor for cancers of the lung, mouth, larynx (voice box), bladder, kidney, and several other organs.

But risk factors don't tell us everything. Having a risk factor, or even several, does not mean that a person will get the disease, and many people get cancer without having any known risk factors.

Unlike many adult cancers, lifestyle-related risk factors do not seem to play a large role in childhood cancers, including Ewing tumors.

Studies of children with Ewing tumors have not found links to radiation, chemicals, or any other environmental exposures.

Certain childhood cancers tend to run in some families. But genetic changes passed along within families are not an important risk factor for Ewing tumors. Although the gene changes that cause Ewing tumors are known (see "Do we know what causes Ewing tumors?"), they are not inherited.

Race/ethnicity

Ewing tumors occur most often in whites and are extremely rare among African Americans and Asian Americans. The reason for this is not known.

Gender

These cancers are slightly more common in males than in females.

Age

Although these tumors can occur at any age, they are most common in teenagers and are rare among adults and young children.

Last Medical Review: 08/20/2009
Last Revised: 08/20/2009