Where your DNA places you among other people, and the studies behind it.
Not tailored to your result, and not medical advice
Quit or Avoid Smoking: The American Cancer Society describes smoking as the only proven lifestyle-related risk factor for acute myeloid leukemia. The other established risk factors it lists, including older age, being born male, previous chemotherapy or radiation treatment, certain pre-existing blood disorders and inherited syndromes, cannot be changed. Tobacco is therefore the clearest AML risk factor a person can act on directly. American Cancer Society
Limit Benzene and Solvent Exposure: The National Cancer Institute states that exposure to benzene increases the risk of developing leukemia and other blood disorders, with the highest levels among workers in industries that produce or use it. Everyday sources include gasoline fumes, motor vehicle exhaust, secondhand tobacco smoke, and some glues, adhesives, cleaning products and paint strippers. Mainstream cigarette smoke accounts for about half of total benzene exposure across the US population, and about 90 percent of it among smokers. Ventilating work areas and limiting time around gasoline fumes and solvent-based products reduces this exposure. National Cancer Institute
Keep Weight in a Healthy Range: A meta-analysis pooling 26 studies and 12,971 people with acute myeloid leukemia found higher incidence among those with raised body mass index, with a relative risk of 1.23 (95% CI 1.12 to 1.35) compared with normal weight. The association was stronger for obesity (RR 1.41) than for overweight alone (RR 1.10). The authors point to adipose tissue acting as an active endocrine organ that secretes adipokines, hormones, inflammatory factors and free fatty acids. This is observational evidence, so it shows an association rather than establishing cause. Scientific Reports (PMC)
Know the Limits of Prevention: For leukemia, most cases have no known avoidable cause. The American Cancer Society states plainly that it is not clear what causes most cases of AML, and that many people with AML do not have risk factors that can be changed. It also notes that exposure to workplace and environmental chemicals appears to account for only a small portion of leukemias. Beyond not smoking and avoiding known chemical exposures, no lifestyle program has been shown to prevent leukemia, so general health habits are worth keeping on their own merits rather than as protection against this specific disease. American Cancer Society
Get Persistent Symptoms Looked At: Acute leukemia symptoms are non-specific and overlap with ordinary illness: pale skin, tiredness, breathlessness, frequent infections, fever or night sweats, unusual bruising or bleeding such as nosebleeds and bleeding gums, flat red or purple spots on the skin, bone and joint pain, unexplained weight loss and swollen glands in the neck, armpit or groin. The NHS notes that although it is highly unlikely AML is the cause of such symptoms, they still need to be investigated and treated promptly. Symptoms that persist or have no obvious explanation are a reasonable thing to raise with a clinician. NHS
How much of this is genetic?
Genetics explains 20% of why people differ in this trait. The rest is environment, daily habits and chance.
Heritability estimate: Twin-study heritability estimate for leukemia, largely chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Background and further reading
Leukemia is a group of cancers of the blood-forming tissues, including the bone marrow and the lymphatic system, in which abnormal white blood cells are produced and accumulate. It is broadly divided into lymphoid and myeloid types, and into acute (rapidly progressing) and chronic (slowly progressing) forms. This polygenic score reflects common inherited variants associated mainly with lymphoid leukemia, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in particular, which is the most common leukemia in adults in Western countries. Most leukemias are diseases of later life, though some types are more common in children.
Genetic Basis: The overall heritable contribution to lymphoid leukemia is modest. Twin studies estimate the heritability of leukemia at roughly 20%, largely attributable to chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and common inherited variants of the kind captured here explain only a portion of that. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia shows notable familial clustering, with first-degree relatives of patients having a several-fold higher risk than the general population. Genome-wide association studies have identified susceptibility loci near immune and cell-regulation genes, including IRF4 (on chromosome 6p25.3), SP140 (2q37.1), CASP8 (2q33.1), and BCL2 (18q21.33), along with variants near ATM and the telomere-maintenance gene POT1. These variants each shift risk only slightly, and this score sums many such common variants rather than any single high-impact mutation.
Environmental and Other Factors: A polygenic score captures only common inherited variation and does not reflect environmental exposures, rare high-penetrance mutations, or acquired (somatic) mutations that arise during a person's lifetime, which are central to how leukemia actually develops. Established non-genetic factors for various leukemia types include high-dose ionizing radiation, benzene and certain other industrial chemicals, prior chemotherapy or radiotherapy, tobacco smoking (linked mainly to acute myeloid leukemia), and increasing age. For most people the absolute lifetime chance of developing leukemia is low regardless of this score.
The published research behind your score, and the variants it draws on.
3 published scores from 3 studies
The leukemia score combines 3 polygenic scores drawn from 3 published studies.
These traits are influenced by some of the same genes and variants as this one
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Content updated August 2026.
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