close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffFactors that may increase your risk of acute myelogenous leukemia include:
- Increasing age. The risk of acute myelogenous leukemia increases with age. Acute myelogenous leukemia is most common in adults age 65 and older.
- Your sex. Men are more likely to develop acute myelogenous leukemia than are women.
- Previous cancer treatment. People who've had certain types of chemotherapy and radiation therapy or treatment for childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) may have a greater risk of developing AML.
- Exposure to radiation. People exposed to very high levels of radiation, such as survivors of a nuclear reactor accident, have an increased risk of developing AML.
- Dangerous chemical exposure. Exposure to certain chemicals, such as benzene — which is found in unleaded gasoline and used by the chemical industry — also is linked to greater risk of AML.
- Smoking. AML is linked to cigarette smoke, which contains benzene and other known cancer-causing chemicals.
- Other blood disorders. People who've had another blood disorder, such as myelodysplasia, polycythemia vera or thrombocythemia, are at greater risk of developing AML.
- Genetic disorders. Certain genetic disorders, such as Down syndrome, are associated with an increased risk of AML.
Many people with AML have no known risk factors, and many people who have risk factors never develop the cancer.
References
- Appelbaum FR. Acute myeloid leukemia in adults. In: Abeloff MD, et al. Abeloff's Clinical Oncology. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone; 2007:2215.
- Miller KB, et al. Clinical manifestations of acute myeloid leukemia. In: Hoffman R, et al. Hematology: Basic Principles and Practice. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=aboutPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06715-0..X5001-8--TOP&isbn=978-0-443-06715-0&uniq=203948673. Accessed June 2, 2010.
- Rowe JM, et al. Therapy for acute myeloid leukemia. In: Hoffman R, et al. Hematology: Basic Principles and Practice. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=aboutPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06715-0..X5001-8--TOP&isbn=978-0-443-06715-0&uniq=203948673. Accessed June 2, 2010.
- Adult acute myeloid leukemia treatment. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/adultAML/patient/allpages. Accessed June 3, 2010.
- Leukemia — acute myeloid — AML. Cancer.Net. http://www.cancer.net/patient/Cancer+Types/Leukemia+-+Acute+Myeloid+-+AML. Accessed June 3, 2010.
- Integrative medicine & complementary and alternative therapies as part of blood cancer care. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/attachments/National/br_1150734030.pdf. Accessed June 3, 2010.
Find Mayo Clinic on