Once people have been diagnosed with lung cancer they might think it pointless to stop smoking, but in fact it’s not too late to benefit from quitting, a new study shows.
Patients who quit smoking after the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer NSCLC maintained a better performance status PS at 6 and 12 months regardless of disease stage, age, race, sex, therapy types, and comorbidities than those who continued to smoke. A study “Smoking Cessation After Diagnosis of Lung Cancer Is Associated With a Beneficial Effect on Performance Status” by Sevin Baser, Vickie R. Shannon, Georgie A. Eapen, Carlos A. Jimenez, Amir Onn, E Lin, and Rodolfo C. Morice, published in the medical journal Chest.
Researchers found that among more than 200 lung cancer patients at their center, those who quit smoking after the diagnosis became less severely impaired by the disease than those who kept up the habit.
The records were reviewed for 206 patients, of whom 93 (45%) were current smokers, 15 (7%) were never-smokers, and 98 (48%) were former smokers. Among the 93 smokers, 46 quit and 47 continued smoking after the diagnosis. Disease stage, patient demographics, treatment modalities, and comorbidities were similar between these two groups.
While there was no significant association between smoking status after diagnosis and patient survival, those who quit smoking maintained a better PS at 0 to 6 months (odds ratio [OR], 7.09; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.99 to 25.3; p = 0.002) and at 0 to 12 months (OR, 6.99; 95% CI, 1.76 to 27.7; p = 0.006) than those who continued smoking after the adjustment for disease stage, patient demographics, treatment modalities, and comorbidities.