A report published online first in the August 6, 2014 edition of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), demonstrates that nine years after diagnosis, 9.3% of U.S. cancer survivors were current smokers and 83% of these individuals were daily smokers who averaged 14.7 cigarettes per day.
“We need to follow up with cancer survivors long after their diagnoses to see whether they are still smoking and offer appropriate counseling, interventions, and possible medications to help them quit,” said Lee Westmaas, PhD, director of tobacco research at the American Cancer Society and lead author of the study.
Interfering with the efficacy of treatment
Roy Herbst, MD, PhD, chief of medical oncology at Yale University and chair of the AACR Tobacco and Cancer Subcommittee, who was not involved with the study, said in an interview that the findings illustrate the scope of the 
problem.
“Smoking can cause new mutations among cancer survivors that can lead to secondary and additional primary cancers. It can also affect physical function and interfere with the efficacy of therapies,” Herbst noted. “We need to take note of this and target this population for intervention.”
In the study, researchers at the American Cancer Society analyzed data on 2,938 patients nine years after their diagnoses. Smoking prevalence by cancer type:
- bladder cancer (17.2 percent)
- lung cancer (14.9 percent)
- ovarian cancer (11.6 percent)
- melanoma (7.6 percent)
- kidney cancer (7.3 percent)
- colorectal cancer (6.8 percent)
Survivors were more likely to smoke if they were younger, had less education and income, or drank more alcohol. About 40% of smokers said they planned to quit within the next month, but this intention was lower among survivors who were married, older, or smoked more.
“Smoking is addictive and having cancer does not guarantee that you will stop, even if that cancer was directly tied to your smoking,” said Westmaas. “We need to do more to intervene with these patients.”
For more information:
Westmaas JL, Alcaraz KI, Berg CJ, Stein KD. Prevalence and Correlates of Smoking and Cessation-Related Behavior among Survivors of Ten Cancers: Findings from a Nationwide Survey Nine Years after Diagnosis. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2014 Aug 6.[Article][PubMed]
Graph: The percentage of cancer patients still smoking nine years after diagnosis, by cancer type. Courtesy: American Association for Cancer Research/AACR.
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