While the main cause of lung cancer at the present time is cigarette smoking it can also result from occupational exposure to asbestos. Weiss reviewed studies of lung cancer in groups of workers who had been exposed to asbestos and developed asbestosis. He found that the studies indicated that asbestosis is a much better predictor of excess lung cancer risk than measures of exposure and could be used as a marker for lung cancer cases attributed to asbestos.
https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(15)50601-6/fulltext
W. Weiss
Chest 1999;115:536-549