Brain tumours
Anything that increases your risk of getting cancer is a risk factor. Having a risk factor does not mean you will get cancer.
Age is a risk factor in brain tumours. The older you get the higher the risk. Being overweight or obese can also slightly increase your risk.
If you have had radiotherapy treatment before can also increase your risk slightly. As can having a close relative such as parent, child or sibling who has had a brain tumour.
There are ways you can reduce your risk of cancer in general.
Anything that increases your risk of getting cancer is a risk factor. Having a risk factor does not mean you will get cancer.
Age is a risk factor in brain tumours. The older you get the higher the risk. Being overweight or obese can also slightly increase your risk.
If you have had radiotherapy treatment before can also increase your risk slightly. As can having a close relative such as parent, child or sibling who has had a brain tumour.
There are ways you can reduce your risk of cancer in general.
Brain tumours can start at any age. But as we get older our risk of developing most cancers, including brain tumours, increases.
The risk of brain tumours is greatest in those aged between 85 and 89 years.
Being overweight or obese increases the risk of some cancer types, including a type of brain tumour called meningioma. About 2 out of 100 brain tumours (2%) diagnosed in the UK every year are caused by being overweight or obese.
Try to keep a healthy weight by keeping physically active and eating a healthy, balanced diet.
Ionising radiation is a type of radiation used by some medical scans, such as x-rays and CT scans. These scans are important to help diagnose many illnesses, including cancer.
Less than 1 out of every 100 brain tumours (less than 1%) diagnosed in the UK are caused by ionising radiation. Most cases happen in people who have received radiation from previous radiotherapy treatments, rather than from x-rays and CT scans.
The risks of radiation from medical scans are very low. Your doctors and dentist will keep your exposure to radiation as low as possible. They will only do x-rays and CT scans when they are necessary.
Find out more about x-rays, radiation and your risk of cancer
Your risk is higher than other people in the general population if you have a close relative who has had a brain tumour. A close relative is a parent, sibling or child.
A small proportion of brain tumours are related to known genetic conditions. People who have one of these rare syndromes have an increased risk of getting a brain tumour.
These syndromes include:
neurofibromatosis (NF) type 1 and type 2
tuberous sclerosis (TSC)
Li-Fraumeni syndrome
Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome (VHL)
Turner syndrome
Turcot syndrome
Gorlin syndrome
Go to the Cancer Statistics section
There are ways you can reduce your risk of cancer in general.
Find out more about how you could reduce your risk of cancer
Stories about potential causes are often in the media and 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.
Last reviewed: 19 Jan 2023
Next review due: 19 Jan 2026
Common symptoms of brain tumours include headaches, feeling or being sick and seizures (fits).
Primary brain tumours are tumours that start in the brain. They can start anywhere in the brain and there are many different types of tumour.
You usually start by seeing your GP who might refer you to a specialist. Or you might go to Accident and Emergency (A&E) if you suddenly have severe symptoms.
There are many different types of brain tumours. They are usually named after the type of cell they develop from.
Treatment for a brain or spinal cord tumour depends on the type of tumour you have, where it is and your general health.
Primary brain tumours are cancers that start in the brain.
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