It Can Happen To You

Even if you have already quit smoking, you are still at an elevated risk of developing lung cancer compared to those who have never smoked.  About 45% of all lung cancer deaths occur among former smokers. Knowledge of your personal risk level may prompt you and your doctor to consider a number of health monitoring options.

Understanding your Long-term Risk

Quitting smoking immediately helps improve your health and lowers your risk of heart attack as well as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). However, lung cancer remains a threat that decreases only slowly over time.

Family History Is Not Enough

Only 10-20% of people diagnosed with lung cancer report a parent, sibling or child with lung cancer.  Family history provides a very limited assessment of your genetic predisposition for lung cancer in which multiple genes and environmental factors interact to result in illness.  Those with an immediate family member who has developed lung cancer are 1.5 to 2 times more likely to develop lung cancer than the average smoker, compared to a 10 times greater risk for those with a Very High score on the Respiragene™ test.  Family history on its own overlooks important differences between related people involving environmental factors such as smoking history.  At best, relatives share 50% or less of their genetic variability.  A positive family history is seen in only a small proportion of those who actually develop lung cancer, so family history on its own clearly has limited usefulness for predicting your personalized risk for developing lung cancer.