Risks and causes of nasal and paranasal sinus cancer
Smoking tobacco is one of the biggest causes of nasal and paranasal sinus cancer. There are some other risk factors that can increase your risk of developing nasal and paranasal sinus cancer.
What is a risk factor?
Anything that can increase your risk of getting a disease is called a risk factor.
Different cancers have different risk factors. Having one or more of these risk factors doesn't mean you will definitely get that cancer.
Smoking
Smoking increases your risk of nasal cavity cancer. If you smoke, you are at a higher than average risk of developing this type of cancer.
Cigarettes contain nitrosamines and other chemicals that cause cancer. When you smoke, the smoke may pass through your nasal cavity on its way to your lungs.
Your risk increases the longer you smoke. If you smoke a lot, you increase your risk even more. Stopping smoking is the best thing you can do for your health and will reduce the risk of developing cancer.
Exposure to some chemicals
Research shows that some jobs increase your risk of developing nasal and paranasal sinus cancer. This is because they can expose you to certain chemicals.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) lists all cancer causing substances in humans. This is also called carcinogens. They say the following substances have enough evidence to say they increase your risk of nasal and paranasal sinus cancer:
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wood dust (mainly hardwood) - people who work in carpentry, including furniture and cabinet makers, wooden floors and any other wood related industry
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leather dust - shoemakers may be exposed to leather dust
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nickel compounds - a metal used to make stainless steel
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isopropyl alcohol production - a type of alcohol used in household products and in manufacturing processes
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radium 226 and 228 - radioactive metals that can be found at low levels in nature in the air, water, soil and rocks
Human papilloma virus (HPV)
HPV is a common virus that can cause small growths or warts. There are lots of different strains of HPV. Some are high risk for other types of cancer, such as cervical cancer.
About 30 in every 100 cases (30%) of nasal and paranasal sinus cancers are linked to HPV. Of the different types of HPV, type 16 is the most common with nasal and sinus cancers.
Previous radiotherapy for hereditary retinoblastoma
Previous radiotherapy for hereditary retinoblastoma has been linked with some types of nasal and paranasal sinus cancer.
Factors where there isn't enough evidence
There are also possible risk factors. This means some researchers suspect they might be risk factors, but there isn’t enough evidence to be sure.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer lists the following substances as having limited evidence for increasing your risk of nasal and paranasal sinus cancer:
- chromium (VI) compounds - a chemical used in stainless steel, textiles, plastics, leather. The use of chromium is now restricted in Europe
- formaldehyde - an industrial chemical used to make other chemicals, building materials, and household products
- cloth fibres - people who work in the textile manufacturing may be exposed to these fibres
More information on risk factors for head and neck cancer
We have more detailed information for health professionals about head and neck cancer risks and causes.
Other possible causes
There are often stories about potential causes in the media. It isn’t always clear which ideas are supported by evidence. There might be things you have heard of that we haven’t included here. This is because either there is no evidence about them or it is less clear.
Reducing your risk
There are ways you can reduce your risk of cancer.
