Low body mass index (BMI) is strongly associated with an increased risk of lung cancer among current smokers, researchers report in the November issue of the International Journal of Cancer.

“Our study was based on a nationally representative prospective cohort study of (about) 220,000 men in China, where mean BMI is relatively low and lung cancer mortality is high despite (the fact) that few have smoked cigarettes persistently over the last few decades,” lead investigator Dr. Ling Yang from the University of Oxford, UK, told Reuters Health. “It has confirmed the fundamental importance of smoking as a major cause of lung cancer.”