Got cancer? Only 44% quit smoking when told

William Atkins
Thursday, 22 January 2009 18:05

Science - Health

And, the U.S. researchers further added, “Intervention programs are needed to help cancer survivors to quit smoking. Prospective clinical trials may help identify the ideal intervention for smoking cessation.”

Continuing to smoke tobacco after being diagnosed and being told of a smoking-related cancer complicates the treatments of the cancer, such as surgery and radiation therapy.

Dr. Ellen R. Gritz, a professor and chair of the Department of Behavioral Science at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, Texas) and also a researcher on the effects of tobacco with cancer, stated, “Tobacco use after cancer diagnosis has now become the elephant in the room, a huge issue in oncology that many in the field are ignoring.”

Dr. Gritz, who is not associated with this study, adds, "We now need to realize that it is to the benefit of cancer patients that we address both of these issues by promoting tobacco cessation efforts and collecting data in clinical trials on tobacco use.” [Emax Health: “Smoking After Cancer Diagnosis Affects Care and Research”]

Additional information on “Quitting Smoking: Why To Quit and How To Get Help” is available on the National Cancer Institute (U.S National Institutes of Health) website.

The NCI website asks the question "Does quitting smoking lower the risk of cancer?"

Its answer is: "Quitting smoking substantially reduces the risk of developing and dying from cancer, and this benefit increases the longer a person remains smoke free. However, even after many years of not smoking, the risk of lung cancer in former smokers remains higher than in people who have never smoked."

And, "The risk of premature death and the chance of developing cancer due to cigarettes depend on the number of years of smoking, the number of cigarettes smoked per day, the age at which smoking began, and the presence or absence of illness at the time of quitting. For people who have already developed cancer, quitting smoking reduces the risk of developing a second cancer."

The NCI website also asks the question "Should someone already diagnosed with cancer bother to quit smoking?"

The answer, "Yes. There are many reasons that people diagnosed with cancer should quit smoking. For those having surgery or other treatments, quitting smoking helps improve the body’s ability to heal and respond to the cancer treatment, and it lowers the risk of pneumonia and respiratory failure. Also, quitting smoking may lower the risk of the cancer returning or a second cancer forming."