This is approximately two-fold higher than the risk typically seen from COPD among whites.

Study leader Carol Etzel of M.D.Anderson Cancer Center in Houston identified risk factors after analyzing data from 491 African-Americans with lung cancer and 497 African-Americans without lung cancer, and compared the risk factors with a previously established risk prediction model for whites. The findings are published in the September issue of Cancer Prevention Research.

"The one size fits all risk prediction clearly does not work," Etzel said in a statement. "What we hope is that a doctor can use these models to encourage their patients to take steps to prevent lung cancer. Even if they are never smokers, they can be at risk."

Researchers also found that hay fever, previously shown to be protective among whites, was also protective among African-Americans. Specifically, African-Americans with hay fever were 44 percent less likely to develop lung cancer, a rate that had been previously seen among whites.