Smokers who are diagnosed with cancer now have more incentive to quit, as researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have found survival outcomes were optimized when patients quit smoking within six months of their diagnosis. Study results, published in JAMA Oncology , found a 22–26% reduction in cancer-related mortality among those who had quit smoking within three months after tobacco cessation treatment began. The best outcomes were observed in patients who started tobacco treatment within six months of a cancer diagnosis and were abstinent from smoking three months later.
Survival for these patients increased from 2.1 years for smokers to 3.9 years for abstainers.
"While smoking cessation is widely promoted across cancer centers for cancer prevention , it remains under-addressed by many oncologists in their routine care," said principal investigator Paul Cinciripini, Ph.D., chair of Behavioral Science and Executive Director of the Tobacco Research and Treatment Program at MD Anderson.
"Our research underscores the critical role of early smoking cessation as a key clinical intervention for patients undergoing cancer treatment ." Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death and disease in the U.S.
According to the Surgeon General, smoking at or following a cancer diagnosis increases both all-cause and cancer-specific mortality, as well as risk for disease progression and tobacco-related second primary cancers. Each year, about 480,000.