Chen Chien-jen notes that the risk of this cancer is approximately two to five times higher for the mothers or daughters of females with the disease, and tragically, sometimes succeeding generations of women in the same family all develop this cancer. Aside from the environment, shared genetic factors may be the chief reason for such occurrences.
陳建仁舉例，母親、姊妹罹患肺腺癌者，其相對危險性在二到五倍左右，甚至出現代代罹患的家族悲劇，其原因除了共享外在環境外，內在基因也可能是罪魁禍首。