Allard said that among all smokers, some are at significantly higher risk. The test places chronic smokers and ex-smokers in three categories. A "Moderate Risk score means the person has a risk of developing lung cancer comparable to an average smoker. Those with High Risk scores are about four times more likely than those at Moderate Risk to get lung cancer, and those at Very High Risk are about 10 times more likely to get the disease.

Lung cancer is one of the major causes of smoking-related deaths, killing more people in the U.S. than any other type of cancer. It accounted for more than 160,000 deaths in 2007, more deaths than from breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer combined. Studies show that lung cancer results from the combined effects of smoking and genetic susceptibility.

Telling smokers their own personal risk of illness, which borrows a technique that is already a mainstay in heart disease prevention, will provide a new tool for doctors to engage their patients, said Dr. Allard, who added that recent behavior studies also found that such testing does not discourage smokers from quitting even though they might not be identified at the greatest risk. The test is also a reminder to those smokers who do not consider themselves at risk of lung cancer at all that all smokers are at some risk. A recent study showed that as much as 50 percent of smokers do not think they are at risk despite well publicized warnings.

The RespirageneTM test is available from Molecular Diagnostics Laboratories via the www.respiragene website. The test must be authorized by a physician.

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