Test Your Knowledge

Although the exact cause of women’s reproductive cancers is unknown, there are certain risk factors that may increase a woman’s likelihood of developing these diseases. Common risk factors of female gynecological cancers include:

• Age. This is a significant risk factor for most female reproductive cancers. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS):
  
  
• Seventy percent of endometrial cancers affect women age 40 or older.
  
  
• Half of all ovarian cancers affect women over age 63.
  
  
• More than half of vaginal squamous cell carcinomas affect women age 60 or older.
  
  
• Nearly 85 percent of women with vulvar cancer are older than 50 years old.
  
  
• Uterine sarcomas tend to effect women who are middle-aged or elderly.
  
  
• Smoking. Tobacco use is a risk factor for cervical, vaginal and vulvar as well as many non-reproductive cancers.
  
  
• Oral contraceptives (birth control pills). Women who take oral contraceptives are more likely to develop some reproductive cancers (e.g., cervical cancer) than those who rely on other methods of contraception. This is because birth control pills raise a woman’s estrogen levels, thereby increasing the risk of developing certain cancers.
  
  
• Race. Ethnicity also plays a role in many female reproductive cancers. For instance, white women have the greatest likelihood of developing endometrial cancer, according to the ACS, whereas African-American women are nearly twice as likely to develop uterine sarcomas as Asian or white women.
  
  
• Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. HPVs are a collection of more than 100 types of viruses called papillomaviruses, which cause noncancerous tumors (masses of excess tissue) called papillomas (warts). HPV infections can be transmitted from skin-to-skin contact, and certain HPVs may increase an individual’s risk of developing some female reproductive cancers, such as cervical, vaginal and vulvar cancers. A vaccine is now available for certain HPVs that have been linked to cervical cancer. The vaccine is now recommended for all 11- and 12-year-old girls.
  
  
• Reproductive history. Factors that compose a woman’s reproductive history include her age at menarche and menopause (e.g., early menstruation or late menopause), whether or not she can or has given birth to a child and the age at which she gave birth to her first child. Reproductive history also includes the total number of pregnancies a woman has had and her use of oral contraceptives. These factors elevate estrogen levels and may increase the risk of certain reproductive cancers, such as cervical and ovarian cancers as well as uterine sarcoma.
  
  
• Being overweight or obese. Having excess body weight can increase a woman’s risk of endometrial and cervical cancer and uterine sarcoma.
  
  
• Inadequate nutrition. Poor dietary habits and excess consumption of fat can increase the likelihood of developing endometrial and cervical cancer.