ACS CancerRisk360™

All adults (18 years or older) can learn about their personal cancer risk and how to reduce it through this assessment. This assessment is valid for individuals with or without a history of cancer.

Yes. The assessment, information, and resources provided are all free.

A cancer risk assessment is a way to gather information about various cancer risk factors. It’s used to help understand a person’s individual risk for developing cancer. The goal of a cancer risk assessment is to help guide a person and their health care team when making decisions about their health and care.

The ACS CancerRisk360 is a unique cancer risk assessment tool. Other cancer risk assessment tools may cover a specific type of cancer. But ACS CancerRisk360 explores known cancer risk factors to help explain a person’s overall risk of cancer. The tool asks questions and combines information about family history, personal health history, daily life activities and behaviors, and cancer screening history.

The recommendations of the ACS CancerRisk360 assessment can help identify actions that could help lower a person’s cancer risk. Recommendations include what steps can be taken, including supporting information and resources that can be accessed right away. Please note you will not receive a numerical risk score like some other risk assessments (e.g. Tyrer-Cuzick Risk Assessment calculator for breast cancer).

This cancer risk assessment is intended for people 18 years or older.

This tool addresses several factors that influence cancer risk. While the assessment does not ask about every type of cancer, the comprehensive nature of the assessment allows us to give you recommendations that have the potential to reduce your risk of many types of cancer. The American Cancer Society recommends cancer screening for breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers, depending on the individual. The American Cancer Society does not have cancer screening guidelines for other types of cancer. ACS CancerRisk60 does not cover cancer screening recommendations outside of breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers for appropriate individuals.

We recommend talking to your doctor if you have questions about the ACS CancerRisk360 recommendations or have questions about any cancers not included in this assessment.

Yes. This assessment will be updated from time-to-time as new science, technology, and guidelines come out. If you revisit your recommendations summary, using your unique link available for up to 18 months following survey completion, you will be prompted to retake the assessment if the assessment has been updated since the recommendations summary page was generated.  Please talk to your doctor about your health-related questions including daily life modifications, which tests you might need, and the right screening schedule for you.  It’s also a good idea to discuss risk factors, such as family history, that may put you at risk.

ACS CancerRisk360 has an 8^th grade reading level.

No. This assessment does not replace professional medical advice and consultation about cancer prevention and cancer risk. This information and recommendations in this assessment are for general information only.  Please note that ACS CancerRisk360 uses automated decision-making based on the answers provided during the assessment (without human review). It does not constitute medical or legal advice, is not meant to be comprehensive, and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. It should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional consultation with a qualified healthcare provider familiar with your individual medical needs. Please talk to your doctor about your healthcare-related questions. You should not disregard professional medical advice, or delay seeking it, because of the information or recommendations available from ACS CancerRisk360.

Most questions will be about topics you already know like how you live your daily life. Other questions may ask you more about your family history related to cancer and your cancer screening history. Don’t worry if you don’t have all the answers – you can always use the unsure or unknown answer choices. If you have questions, we recommend talking to your doctor.

ACS does not endorse any product or services or any specific providers. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity or therapy in this assessment should not be construed as an ACS endorsement.

ACS CancerRisk360 was developed by a team of experts at the American Cancer Society with support from external expert advisors using the latest evidence and ACS guidelines. The questions and recommendations are periodically reviewed and updated for accuracy.

This list was developed based on evidence-based guidelines and current science by a team of experts at the American Cancer Society with advice from an external expert advisory group with backgrounds in various relevant areas such as cancer prevention, early detection, genetics, cancer risk, and health behavior change. The list is tailored to you based off your assessment answers and is in order of priority based on current evidence and actionability.

We continuously review new evidence and science about cancer risk factors to make the assessment as comprehensive as possible. If after rigorous review something seems to have a link to cancer risk, we will consult our expert team to go about adding a question and recommendations to the assessment. This tool does not address all cancer risk.

It is okay if you don’t have all the answers. There will be specific recommendations and action items if you answer unsure or unknown. If you learn more information that can help you answer the questions, you can retake the assessment and get recommendations based off of your new answers.

We recommend retaking the assessment on an annual basis or if any of your circumstances change like your age, updates to your personal or family health history, daily life modifications, or your cancer screening history and screening test results.   

If you choose to share the assessment with others, the link to the assessment start page will be shared along with a general message. We encourage you to share a personal message about why you think others should take the assessment. Your personal recommendations will not be shared.

The information referenced in the assessment comes directly from cancer.org, American Cancer Society scientific publications, and American Cancer Society guidelines. Each page within cancer.org contains references to sources used to develop that information.

Check out the Medical and Health Content on cancer.org webpage to learn more about the team that develops our cancer prevention and risk factor content on cancer.org.

This assessment uses automated decision-making based on the answers provided during the assessment.  This means that we have built the tool to use decision trees and algorithms to derive recommendations by automated means based on answers provided without human involvement or review of the answers provided during the assessment. These decision trees and algorithms were developed based on evidence-based guidelines and current science by a team of experts at the American Cancer Society with advice from an external expert advisory group with backgrounds in various relevant areas such as cancer prevention, early detection, genetics, cancer risk, and health behavior change.

This cancer risk assessment has been built using automated decision-making matrix.  Proceeding and accepting its Terms of Use means that you agree to this feature of the assessment.  If you do not want to agree to this (or do not want to accept any other terms of use), there are other ways to ACS provides general information about cancer risk.  Please refer to this page as a starting point https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention.html.  In addition, we recommend that you talk to a doctor about your risk factors, such as family history, that may put you at risk, and receive advice on which tests you might need and the right screening schedule for you.

The access and use of ACS CancerRisk360 including any content, functionality, and services offered, linked, or otherwise available through ACS CancerRisk360 (collectively, the “Tool”) is governed by the User Agreement Terms of Use available here (“Terms of Use”).  By accessing and using the Tool, you accept and agree to be bound and abide by such Terms of Use. The Terms of Use incorporate some of the topics covered in this FAQ, but   please refer to the Terms of Use for full information on terms and conditions governing your access and use of ACS CancerRisk360. ACS assumes no responsibility for any injury or damage to persons or property arising out of or related to the access or use of ACS CancerRisk360.  Please also refer to our Privacy Policy and our Health Privacy Policy. 

You will be given the opportunity to accept or reject the Terms of User by clicking on the appropriate button when you first access this assessment.  If you do not wish to accept the Terms of User, there are other ways to ACS provides general information about cancer risk. Please refer to this page as a starting point https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention.html.  In addition, we recommend that talk to a doctor about your risk factors, such as family history, that may put you at risk, and receive advice on which tests you might need and the right screening schedule for you.