Racial disparity found in lung cancer cases

Black cigarette smokers with a parent or sibling who developed lung cancer at an early age are more likely to get the disease themselves than white smokers with the same family history, researchers reported on Tuesday.

The reason for the racial disparity is not clear, but it could be that blacks are more susceptible to lung cancer or there may be some other risk factor that is not yet understood, the report from Detroit's Wayne State University said.

The finding came from a study of more than 7,500 smokers who were lung cancer victims in the Detroit area between 1990 and 2003, one third of whom were black.

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Across the board there was "approximately a twofold increase in risk" for cigarette smokers getting lung cancer after age 60 if they were closely related to someone who got the disease before the age of 50, said Michele Cote, the study's lead author.

But about 25 percent of blacks in that category developed lung cancer later on compared to 17 percent of similar whites, the study found.

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Less than 7 percent of U.S. lung cancer cases show up before age 50.

The report, published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, said that cigarette smoking is the prime risk factor for developing lung cancer and is the source of most of the disease, but a genetic component has also been recognized.

John Ruckdeschel, another researcher involved in the study, said doctors should take thorough family histories from smokers and advise those who have a close relative with the disease to undergo annual imaging scans.