[Durgical](https://durgical.com/en/) › [DurgiPedia](https://durgical.com/en/durgipedia/) › [General pathology](https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/) › [Neoplasia](https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/#a-neoplasia) › Cancer epidemiology: age, environment, predisposing conditions (and Colombia)

[General pathology](https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/) · [Neoplasia](https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/#a-neoplasia)

# Cancer epidemiology: age, environment, predisposing conditions (and Colombia)

- Topic

Who gets cancer depends on age, habits, infections, where one lives and a few inherited genes. Many cancers can be prevented.

Updated 2026-11-01

## Key points

- Age is the strongest risk factor: mutations accumulate.
- Environment outweighs heredity for most cancers (migrant studies).
- Tobacco is the largest preventable cause of cancer death.
- Infection-related cancers (cervix, stomach, liver) weigh heavily in Latin America.
- Hereditary syndromes explain only a small fraction of cancers.

## What it is

Cancer risk is shaped by age, environment and lifestyle, infections, predisposing conditions and heredity. Age is the strongest single risk factor because mutations accumulate over a lifetime. Differences between countries and changes in migrants show that environment weighs more than genes for most cancers, and about a third or more of cancers could be prevented by avoiding known risk factors.

## Key facts

- Advancing age is the most important risk factor for cancer overall.
- Migrant studies: people who move from a high-risk to a low-risk country (for example for gastric cancer) take on the new country's risk within one or two generations.
- In low- and middle-income countries, infection-related cancers make up a large share (cervix, stomach, liver).
- In children, leukaemia is the most common cancer; carcinomas are rare.

## Main groups of cancer risk factors

| Factor | Examples | Typical cancers |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Age | Accumulated mutations, weaker repair and immune surveillance | Most carcinomas rise steeply after middle age; children have mostly leukaemias, brain tumours and embryonal tumours |
| [Tobacco](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/lung-cancer/) | Smoking, chewing, second-hand smoke | Lung, head and neck, oesophagus, bladder, pancreas, kidney |
| [Alcohol](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/alcohol-use-disorder/) | Regular and heavy drinking | Mouth, pharynx, oesophagus, liver, breast, colorectum |
| [Diet, obesity and inactivity](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/colorectal-cancer/) | Processed and salted foods, excess weight, sedentary life | Colorectal, endometrial, breast after menopause, oesophageal adenocarcinoma, stomach |
| [Infections](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/cervical-cancer/) | HPV, hepatitis B and C, H. pylori, EBV, HIV | Cervix, liver, stomach, lymphomas, Kaposi sarcoma |
| [Reproductive and hormonal history](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/breast-cancer/) | Early menarche, late menopause, few pregnancies, oestrogen without progestogen | Breast, endometrium, ovary |
| [Environment and occupation](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/malignant-pleural-mesothelioma/) | Asbestos, aromatic amines, benzene, arsenic, radon, air pollution, sunlight | Mesothelioma, bladder, leukaemia, skin, lung |
| [Predisposing conditions](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/barrett-oesophagus/) | Chronic inflammation, immunodeficiency, precursor lesions | Colitis-associated colorectal cancer, Barrett adenocarcinoma, lymphomas |
| [Heredity](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/hereditary-breast-and-ovarian-cancer-syndrome/) | Germline mutations (BRCA, mismatch repair, APC, RB1) | Breast, ovary, colon, retinoblastoma (about one in ten cancers or fewer) |

## Clinical notes

- Colombia: breast cancer is the most frequent cancer in women and prostate cancer in men; gastric cancer is among the leading causes of cancer death, especially in the Andean highlands.
- Cervical cancer still kills many young women in Latin America, despite being preventable with HPV vaccination and screening.
- Lung and colorectal cancers are increasing as tobacco use and urban diets change.
- Late diagnosis (advanced stage) is a major cause of poorer survival in the region, which makes early detection programmes important.

## Memory aid

Cancer is the lottery of time: every year buys more tickets (mutations), and tobacco, alcohol and infections buy them in bulk.

## Test yourself

Think of the answer, then tap the question to see it.

## What is the single most important risk factor for cancer overall?

Advancing age, because DNA mutations accumulate over time.

## What do migrant studies show about cancer risk?

That environment and lifestyle outweigh genes: migrants and their children acquire the cancer pattern of their new country.

## Why do infection-related cancers matter so much in Colombia?

Infections such as HPV, H. pylori and hepatitis viruses are common, so cervical, gastric and liver cancers make up a large share, and many are preventable.

## Which cancer is most common in children?

Leukaemia (mainly acute lymphoblastic leukaemia), followed by brain tumours.

[Add to my cards (4)](https://durgical.app/estudiar/?add=/en/general-pathology/cancer-epidemiology-age-environment-predisposing-conditions/)

## Related

- [Chemical carcinogens: initiation, promotion and the table to know](https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/chemical-carcinogens-initiation-promotion-and-the-table-to-know/)
- [Radiation and cancer: ultraviolet and ionizing](https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/radiation-and-cancer-ultraviolet-and-ionizing/)
- [Oncogenic viruses and H. pylori: the table to know](https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/oncogenic-viruses-and-h-pylori-the-table-to-know/)
- [Hereditary cancer syndromes: the table to know](https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/hereditary-cancer-syndromes-the-table-to-know/)
- [Precancerous conditions: when chronic inflammation, metaplasia or hyperplasia raise the risk](https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/precancerous-conditions-when-chronic-inflammation-metaplasia-or-hyperplasia-rais/)
- [Diet, cancer and systemic disease](https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/diet-cancer-and-systemic-disease/)
- [Tobacco: how smoking injures tissue](https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/tobacco-how-smoking-injures-tissue/)
- [Alcohol: how it injures the liver, brain, heart and fetus](https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/alcohol-how-it-injures-the-liver-brain-heart-and-fetus/)
- [Obesity: leptin, adipokines and its consequences](https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/obesity-leptin-adipokines-and-its-consequences/)
- [Tumours of infancy and childhood](https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/tumours-of-infancy-and-childhood/)

## Related conditions

- [Gastric cancer](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/gastric-cancer/)
- [Cervical cancer](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/cervical-cancer/)
- [Breast cancer](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/breast-cancer/)
- [Prostate cancer](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/prostate-cancer/)
- [Lung cancer](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/lung-cancer/)
- [Colorectal cancer](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/colorectal-cancer/)
- [Hepatocellular carcinoma](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/hepatocellular-carcinoma/)
- [Acute leukaemia (AML and ALL)](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/acute-leukaemia/)
- [Obesity](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/obesity/)
- [Tobacco use disorder](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/tobacco-use-disorder/)
- [Alcohol use disorder](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/alcohol-use-disorder/)

## Elsewhere in DurgiPedia

- [Medicines, allergies and habits: tobacco, alcohol and other substances](https://durgical.com/en/clinical-exam/medicines-allergies-and-habits-tobacco-alcohol-and-other-substances/)
- [Types of mutations](https://durgical.com/en/biochemistry/topics/types-of-mutations/)

[← All of general pathology](https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/)

Educational content on the mechanisms of disease; not a diagnostic or treatment guide and no substitute for a health professional's advice. No doses are given.

Sources: [Age and Cancer Risk](https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/age) (National Cancer Institute (NCI), 2026); [Cancer](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer) (World Health Organization (WHO), 2026); [Gastric Cancer](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459142/) (StatPearls (NCBI Bookshelf), 2024); [Cervical cancer mortality among young women in Latin America and the Caribbean: trend analysis from 1997 to 2030](https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC8761303/) (BMC public health, 2022).

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Source: https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/cancer-epidemiology-age-environment-predisposing-conditions/
License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Cite as: DurgiPedia (durgical.com), https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/cancer-epidemiology-age-environment-predisposing-conditions/