Some cancer patients still cannot quit smoking
People who want to quit smoking cigarettes can help themselves by obtaining a prescription for smoking cessation products or buying over the counter medications such as nicotine patches.
People who want to quit smoking cigarettes can help themselves by obtaining a prescription for smoking cessation products or buying over the counter medications such as nicotine patches. While all smokers should give up the habit, cessation is especially important for cancer patients. However, new research from the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School indicates that some individuals continue to smoke despite their malignancies.
"These findings can help cancer clinicians identify patients who are at risk for smoking and guide tobacco counseling treatment development for cancer patients," said lead researcher Elyse Park, PhD, MPH.
In a study of more than 5,300 people with lung or colorectal cancer, the scientists evaluated smoking rates at the time of diagnosis as well as five months later. At baseline, 39 percent of lung cancer patients and 14 percent of colorectal cancer patients were smoking. After five months, those rates only dropped to 14 and 9 percent, respectively.
Lung cancer patients who continued to smoke shared several characteristics, including public health insurance, lower body mass index and low emotional support. Colorectal cancer subjects who smoked tended to be male, less educated and uninsured. Both groups had high rates of cigarette use and had not received surgery, as published in the journal Cancer.
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