A risk factor is anything that increases your chance of developing 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 and smoking is a risk factor for cancers of the lungs, mouth, throat, larynx, bladder, and several other organs. But having a risk factor, or even several, does not mean that you will get the disease. Many people with one or more risk factors never develop cancer, while others with this disease have no known risk factors. It is important, however, that you know about risk factors so that you can try to change any unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, or can choose to have the early detection tests for a potential cancer. Although we don t yet completely understand the causes of prostate cancer, researchers have found several factors that increase the risk of developing this disease.