William Atkins
Thursday, 22 January 2009 19:05
Science -
Health
Page 2 of 3
The researchers sent questionnaires to 1,000 randomly selected patients (with a mean age of 64 years of age, plus or minus 13 years) diagnosed with cancer between 2003 and 2007 in one cancer center within the United States.
Their goal was to determine the likelihood of one of these participants to have quit smoking after being diagnosed with cancer.
Of the 1,000 questionnaires sent out, 166 of them were of use to the study. Fifty-five percent of the respondents were male past smokers, while 32% were female past smokers.
In all, 52% reported a history of smoking cigarettes. However, only 20% stated they were active smokers at the time they were diagnosed with cancer.
Of those 20%,
44% reported quitting smoking after their diagnosis with cancer.
The researchers concluded,
“In our study sample, less than one half (44%) of smoking cancer patients quit smoking after their cancer diagnosis, and only 62% of smoking cancer patients received smoking cessation counseling from their physicians.”
Page three contains comments from a researcher in the area of smoking and cancer treatment.
