What puts you at risk for lung cancer ?

Research has found several risk factors for lung cancer. A "risk factor" is anything that changes risk of getting a disease. Different risk factors change risk by different amounts. The risk factors for lung cancer include:

smoking and being around others' smoke
things around us at home or work (such as radon gas)
personal traits (such as having a family history of lung cancer)

Smoking and secondhand smoke

Cigarette smoking causes lung cancer. In fact, smoking tobacco is the major risk factor for lung cancer. In the United States, about 90% of lung cancer deaths in men and almost 80% of lung cancer deaths in women are due to smoking. People who smoke are 10 to 20 times more likely to get lung cancer or die from lung cancer than people who do not smoke. The longer a person smokes and the more cigarettes smoked each day the more risk goes up. People who quit smoking have a lower risk of lung cancer than if they had continued to smoke, but their risk is higher than people who never smoked. As more people quit smoking, lung cancer rates will continue to fall, the percentage of lung cancers that occur in smokers will decrease, and the percentage of lung cancers that occur in people who have quit will rise. Smoking also causes cancer of the voicebox (larynx,) mouth and throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, pancreas, cervix, and stomach. Using cigars or pipes also increases risk for lung cancer, but not as much as smoking cigarettes. Smoke from other people's cigarettes (secondhand smoke) causes lung cancer as well. There are more than 4,000 chemicals in secondhand smoke. More than 50 of these chemicals cause cancer in people or animals. Every year, about 3,000 nonsmokers die from lung cancer due to secondhand smoke.
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