Early smoking cessation boosts cancer survival

Quitting smoking within 6 months after receiving a cancer diagnosis appears to confer survival benefits, according to a study.

The study included 4,526 currently smoking adults (median age 55 years, 49.8 percent female) who had received a cancer diagnosis. All participants underwent a smoking cessation intervention that consisted of 6 to 8 personalized counselling visits and 10 to 12 weeks of pharmacotherapy. More than 95 percent of visits were conducted via telemedicine.

The main outcome measures were survival and 7-day point prevalence abstinence, assessed at months 3, 6, and 9 after the initiation of smoking cessation treatment.

The 5-year overall survival rate was 77 percent among patients who achieved abstinence at 3 months vs 73 percent among those with nonabstinence. The respective 10-year OS rate was 65 percent vs 61 percent (p=0.002). At the 75th percentile, the estimated time to death was 5.7 years for patients who were able to abstain at 3 months vs 4.4 years for those who were not able to abstain.

Survival over 15 years increased for patients who quit smoking at 3 months (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.75, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.67–0.83), 6 months (aHR, 0.79, 95 percent CI, 0.71–0.88), or 9 months (aHR, 0.85, 95 percent CI, 0.76–0.95).

Of note, survival outcomes were optimal when smoking cessation treatment was initiated within 6 months of a cancer diagnosis.