What are the risk factors for gestational trophoblastic disease?
Although the exact cause of gestational trophoblastic disease is unknown, it has been linked to certain risk factors.
A risk factor is anything that increases your chances of getting a disease. Having a risk factor does not mean that you will get gestational trophoblastic disease, and not having risk factors does not mean that you won’t get gestational trophoblastic disease. If you think you may be at risk of gestational trophoblastic disease, you should discuss this with your doctor.
Risk factors for gestational trophoblastic disease include:
- age – women under 20 and over 40 years of age are at higher risk.
- previous gestational trophoblastic disease – for women who have had a hydatidiform mole in the past, the chance of it occurring again is about 1%.
If you have any of these risk factors or are concerned about your risk for gestational trophoblastic disease, please see your doctor.