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A risk factor is anything that changes your chances of getting
a disease such as cancer. Different cancers have different risk
factors. For example, unprotected exposure to strong sunlight is a risk
factor for skin cancer. Also, smoking is a risk factor for many
different kinds of cancers.
Researchers have found several risk factors that make a person
more likely to develop nasal cavity and paranasal sinus cancer, but
many people with these cancers have no known risk factors. Even if a
patient has one or more risk factors, it is difficult to know whether
that factor actually caused the cancer.
Occupational exposures
Scientists have found that 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 (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
These workplace exposures have less clear links to nasal and
paranasal sinus cancer:
- glues
- formaldehyde
- organic solvents
Smoking
Smoking increases the risk of nasal cavity cancer.
Family history
Most people with nasal cavity and paranasal sinus cancer do
not have any relatives with this disease. Family history does not seem
to be a risk factor for these cancers.
Retinoblastoma
People with the inherited form of a certain type of eye
cancer, retinoblastoma, have an increased risk of nasal cavity cancer.
The increase in nasal cavity cancer was only seen in those who had
their retinoblastoma treated with radiation.
Last Medical Review: 08/13/2009
Last Revised: 08/13/2009
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