Keep smoking despite cancer
All content is checked by medical journalists.MunichAlmost every tenth cancer patient continues to smoke several cigarettes a day after being diagnosed. The blue haze reduces the chance of being healed.
Researchers from the American Cancer Society (ACS) have analyzed the smoking behavior of almost 3,000 patients with ten different types of cancer. Nine years after their diagnosis, an average of 9.3 percent of patients still smoked. Of them, 40 percent inhaled the fumes from more than 15 cigarettes a day.
Previously with cancer, now still a smoker
The number of smokers was particularly high among patients whose type of cancer is strongly favored by smoking, such as bladder and lung cancer. Of the bladder and lung cancer patients, 17.2 and 14.9 percent, respectively, continued to smoke regularly. This is not surprising in that the proportion of smokers among these cancer patients was naturally higher from the outset than among tobacco-independent forms of cancer.
The researchers found correspondingly lower percentages of continued smokers in patients with ovarian cancer (1.6 percent), black skin cancer (7.6 percent), kidney cancer (7.3 percent) and colon cancer (6.8 percent).
The younger the patient, the lower their education and income, the greater the likelihood that someone would continue smoking despite having cancer. Patients who drank a lot of alcohol were also more likely to continue smoking.
The danger of tobacco
He was very surprised by the high proportion of smokers, commented Prof. Roy Herbst, head of a committee on tobacco and cancer at the American Society for Cancer Research, on the results of the study. “Cigarette smoke can have a negative impact on cancer treatment, for example it can hinder wound healing after an operation. Tobacco can also lead to a relapse in the following years or trigger new types of cancer, ”he explains.
Intervene - even years later
The patients are obviously well aware of this: According to the results, around 40 percent of smokers with cancer wanted to get rid of cigarettes. "The data show how addictive nicotine is and how difficult it is to quit smoking," says Lee Westmaas, lead author of the study. More must be done to ensure that cancer patients manage to quit smoking. “That means we have to ask patients long after their diagnosis whether they smoke and offer them appropriate therapeutic measures,” says the researcher. There are now smoking cessation programs that are specifically tailored to cancer patients.
The sick maker
In addition to cancer, cigarette smoke can have many other health consequences: It can lead to hearing loss, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and cause chronic pain. In pregnant women, it may favor premature births or miscarriages or lead to malformations in the child. Nevertheless, there are around 20 million people in Germany who regularly consume cigarettes. (vv)
Source: J.L. West Maas, et al. 2014. Prevalence and Correlates of Smoking and Cessation-Related Behavior among Survivors of Ten Cancers: Findings from a Nationwide Survey Nine Years after Diagnosis. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, doi: 10.1158 / 1055-9965.
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