The study presented here has a number of strengths including population-based case selection. It is the first report of the role of SNPs on 15q24–25 in lung cancer and smoking behavior in African Americans. There are also some limitations to this study. Response rates for population-based lung cancer case-control studies, in general and in our studies, tend to be low because of the poor survival and great morbidity associated with this disease. However, genotype at any of the three SNPs was not associated with survival, so survival bias is not likely to account for the results presented. In addition, the only measures of nicotine dependence available were smoking dose and duration.
