What are risk factors for multiple myeloma? Hi, everyone, Doctor Joseph Mikhael here, Chief Medical Officer of the International Myeloma Foundation, and I am going to break down the risk factors for multiple myeloma in less than a minute.
It's very important to realize that in the vast majority of cases of multiple myeloma, we really don't know what causes it.
In a very few select cases, we know that certain exposures are connected to multiple myeloma, like our veterans who’ve been exposed to Agent Orange, or our first responders who’ve been exposed to repeated fires and other chemicals. But for most patients, we really don't know the cause.
That being said, we do know that there are some risk factors associated with myeloma.
Most importantly, those of us of African descent are at twice the risk, and indeed, obesity is connected to multiple myeloma, although we don't fully understand all of the mechanisms. Someday, we might be screening for multiple myeloma so we can understand and capture this better, but for now, these are the key factors that we know are associated with multiple myeloma.
For more information, or if you have a personal question about your own diagnosis or a loved one’s, please visit us at myeloma.org.
