ScienceDaily (May 10, 2007) — A new study reveals that first-degree relatives of patients with early-onset lung cancer are at an increased risk of developing other types of cancer. Furthermore, the risk is largely affected by race.

Researchers from the University of Michigan and Wayne State University gathered the family histories from 673 patients with lung cancer, who were identified from the metropolitan Detroit Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program, and 773 age-, race-, and sex-matched control subjects. Data were also collected from 3,556 case relatives and 3,943 control relatives.

Results showed that African-American case relatives were more than twice as likely to develop head and neck cancers compared with their Caucasian counterparts. African-American case relatives were also at an increased risk of head and neck cancers and all tobacco-related cancers, among others, when compared to the African-American control relatives.

This study appears in the May issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians.

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