Medical Health Encyclopedia

Other chemicals that put workers at risk for lung cancer include:

• Arsenic (insecticide and herbicide sprayers, tanners, oil refinery workers).
• Chloromethyl methyl ether (workers exposed to certain polymers, water repellents, or products using chloride and formaldehyde).
• Chromium compounds (workers using certain alloys, paints, pigments, and preservatives).
• Depleted uranium (soldiers exposed to weapons during battlefield conditions).
• Crystalline silica.

By contrast, agricultural workers seem to have a lower lung cancer rate, despite their possible occupational exposures to risky chemicals. While this rate has traditionally been attributed to good health habits, including low tobacco use, a 2000 study suggests that agricultural workers' exposure to endotoxin may be responsible. Endotoxin is a component of common bacteria found in soil and animals and may have cancer-preventing effects on the immune system.

Exposure to Smoke from Grills. Grilling and high-heat frying emit chemicals called heterocyclic amine, which are known to be carcinogenic. A 2000 study of Chinese women found that smokers who stir-fried meat daily and inhaled cooking fumes had a higher risk of lung cancer than did those who stir-fried meat less frequently. (No higher risk was found among nonsmokers.) More research is warranted.

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Air Pollution. Although any risk from air pollution is very small, it nevertheless may be a contributor to those lung cancers not obviously related to smoking. Some studies, including a major analysis of vital statistics in 2002, have found an association between increased risk for lung cancer and long-term exposure to very small particulates, especially sulfates, present in polluted air. The risk, if any, is very small.

Family History

A family history of lung cancer may play a role in increasing susceptibility to this disease. In one study, people with parents or siblings with respiratory tract cancers had a 30% higher risk for lung cancer than people without a family history, and women with mothers or sisters with lung cancer had triple the risk. A higher risk occurred in both smokers and nonsmokers. There was no association between a history of other cancers and lung cancer. Both genetic factors and secondary smoke appeared to contribute to the danger in these individuals.

Other Diseases that Increase Risk

Smokers with emphysema or chronic inflammatory lung diseases, such as asthma, are at increased risk for lung cancer. Both smokers and nonsmokers whose lungs are scarred from recurrent lung diseases, such as pneumonia or tuberculosis, are also at increased risk, particularly for bronchoalveolar lung cancer.