Risk Factors for Ewing Tumors

A risk factor is anything that increases a person’s chances of getting a disease such as cancer. Different cancers have different risk factors.

Lifestyle-related risk factors such as body weight, physical activity, diet, and tobacco and alcohol use play a major role in many adult cancers. But these factors usually take many years to influence cancer risk, and they are not thought to play much of a role in cancers that tend to affect children and teens, including Ewing tumors (Ewing sarcomas).

Studies of children with Ewing tumors haven't found clear links to radiation, chemicals, or any other environmental exposures.

Some types of cancer tend to run in some families. But genetic changes passed down within families do not seem to be an important risk factor for Ewing tumors. Although most of the gene changes that cause Ewing tumors are known (see What Causes Ewing Tumors?), these changes are not inherited from a parent.

Race/ethnicity

Ewing tumors are rare overall, but they are even less common among African Americans and Asian Americans than they are among White individuals (either non-Hispanic or Hispanic). The reason for this is not known, although it might be related to differences in certain genes among different ethnic groups.

Sex

Ewing tumors are slightly more common in males than in females.

Age

People of any age can develop Ewing tumors , but they are most common in older children and teens and are less common among young adults and young children. They are rare in older adults.