The relationship between various risk factors and lung cancer by different histological types was evaluated in a case-control study. A total of 72 adenocarcinoma patients and 59 squamous/small cell lung cancer patients, 262 hospital controls and 262 neighborhood controls were interviewed. Multiple conditional logistic regression analyses revealed that occupational exposures to asbestos and working as a cook were significant risk factors associated with adenocarcinoma of the lung. An inverse association between incense burning and the adenocarcinoma was noted. The squamous and small cell carcinomas of the lung were significantly associated with cigarette smoking, passive smoking exposure from friends at entertainment activities, the use of coal as cooking fuel, history of prior tuberculosis and chronic bronchitis, and occupational exposures to asbestos.