African-American Smokers at Greatest Risk for Lung Cancer

An eight-year study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was performed to determine if race plays a role in the development of lung cancer. Researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of Hawaii discovered during their study that blacks and Native Hawaiians were more likely to develop lung cancer than whites, Japanese-Americans and Latinos.

The study, which involved over 180,000 people, monitored tobacco use and diet, and included smokers, ex-smokers, and people who never smoked. By the conclusion of the study, nearly 2,000 study participants developed lung cancer. Although whites were the heaviest smokers of all the study participants, the percentage of blacks to develop lung cancer outweighed that of whites.

Researchers had three possible reasons for outcome of the study: 1) genetics, 2) difference in how people's bodies react to the cigarette smoke, and 3) environmental influences, such as how people smoke. For instance, blacks were found to be deeper smokers, i.e. they inhaled the cigarette more deeply than whites did when smoking.

Although the study revealed differences between whites and blacks in the development of lung cancer, still many researchers believe there is no race link to lung cancer. You can be assured than further studies will be performed to better determine if a link exists between race and lung cancer.

_{Source: voanews.com
Published: 02/18/06}