Tobacco Use Among Cancer Patients Likely to Increase Symptom Burden

Tobacco use among adult cancer survivors in the form of smoking and vaping was associated with a higher burden of symptoms, but these symptoms were not related to survivors’ desire to quit smoking. These findings were published in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Tobacco smoking accounts for at least 30% of all cancer deaths. Smoking cessation significantly reduces the risk of developing tobacco-related malignancies. Continued smoking after a cancer diagnosis lowers survival rates, increases the likelihood of additional cancers, and decreases the effectiveness of cancer therapies.

However, the benefits of smoking cessation are undervalued: many patients are not aware of the harms related to continued tobacco use after a cancer diagnosis. Furthermore, healthcare professionals often do not provide tobacco cessation assistance for continuing tobacco users (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Does Quitting Smoking Make a Difference Among Newly Diagnosed Head and Neck Cancer Patients?

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Despite the apparent impact of tobacco use on treatment outcomes, data on current smoking status is only rarely captured in clinical trials and research.

Caring for Cancer Survivors Who Use Tobacco

To understand this relationship, researchers analyzed data on 1,409 adults who had a history of cancer and were participating in Wave 5 of the US FDA Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, which gathered detailed tobacco use information from a nationally representative sample of adults from December 2018 to November 2019.

Participants’ answers to questionnaires revealed that 14% and 3% of those who had been diagnosed with cancer currently smoked cigarettes or vaped, respectively. Current smoking was associated with greater fatigue, pain, emotional problems, and worse quality of life compared to participants who previously smoked and participants who never smoked (2^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Tobacco use and cancer-related symptom burden: Analysis of the US Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study

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Current vaping was associated with greater fatigue, pain, and emotional problems, but not worse quality of life. These findings add to a growing body of evidence that continued smoking following a cancer diagnosis is a risk factor for worse outcomes.

There was no relationship between patients’ burden of symptoms and their interest in quitting smoking cigarettes, their likelihood of quitting, or their attempts to quit in the past year.

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The finding that greater symptom burden was not associated with reduced interest in quitting smoking directly contradicts common assumptions that patients with cancer are resistant to tobacco cessation treatment because of their symptom burden.

If smoking cessation is viewed as part of cancer symptom management, it may be more acceptable to both patients and the clinicians who treat them. Future research should also explore whether better management of cancer symptoms like pain, fatigue, or emotional problems helps survivors quit smoking.

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References:

1. Does Quitting Smoking Make a Difference Among Newly Diagnosed Head and Neck Cancer Patients? - (https://academic.oup.com/ntr/article-abstract/18/12/2216/2858131?redirectedFrom=fulltext )
2. Tobacco use and cancer-related symptom burden: Analysis of the US Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study - (https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.34746 )

Source-Eurekalert