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A risk factor is anything that changes a person’s chance of getting a disease such as cancer. Different cancers have different risk factors. For example, exposing skin to strong sunlight is a risk factor for skin cancer. Smoking is a risk factor for lung cancer and many other cancers. But risk factors don’t tell us everything. People who have no risk factors can still get the disease. Also, having a risk factor, or even several, does not mean that a person will get the disease.

Here are a few risk factors that could affect someone’s chance of getting multiple myeloma.

Age

The risk of developing multiple myeloma goes up as people get older. Less than 1% of cases are diagnosed in people younger than 35. Most people diagnosed with this cancer are at least 65 years old.

Sex

Men are slightly more likely to develop multiple myeloma than women.

Race

Multiple myeloma is more than twice as common in African Americans than in White Americans. The reason is not known.

Family history

Multiple myeloma seems to run in some families. Someone who has a sibling or parent with myeloma is more likely to get it than someone who does not have this family history. Still, most patients have no affected relatives, so this accounts for only a small number of cases.

Excess body weight

Some research has suggested that having excess body weight increases a person’s risk of developing myeloma.

Having other plasma cell diseases

People with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) or solitary plasmacytoma are at higher risk of developing multiple myeloma than someone who does not have these diseases.