Short telomere length is thought to be a marker of increased cumulative cellular aging, and has been reported to be associated with poor survival from a variety of cancer types, including lung cancer. We examined associations between telomere length and overall survival for the major lung cancer histologic types in very heavy smokers from the Beta Carotene and Retinol Trial (CARET). CARET was a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled chemoprevention trial of daily β-carotene and retinyl palmitate in smokers with ≥20 pack-years, and smokers who were occupationally exposed to asbestos. Individuals who provided blood and were later diagnosed with lung cancer were included in the study. Telomere length was successfully measured on average 5 years prior to diagnosis for 711 lung cancer cases, of whom 648 died during follow up (median survival 1.5 years). Telomere length was negatively associated with increasing age (p Citation Format: Jennifer A. Doherty, John Houck, Matt J. Barnett, Jean DD Tapsoba, Liberto Julianto, Mark D. Thornquist, Ching-Yun Wang, Chu Chen, Gary E. Goodman. Telomere length measured prior to lung cancer diagnosis and survival by histologic type. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4593. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4593