A systematic review and meta-analysis published in PubMed was undertaken to quantify the survival benefits obtainable by quitting smoking on diagnosis. The review included data from over 17,000 patients with cancer who smoked, and the most studied cancer sites were the lung and head and neck. The median proportion of patients who quit on diagnosis was 42.5%.
Postdiagnosis smoking cessation was associated with longer overall survival, progression-free survival, and disease-free/recurrence-free survival. Postdiagnosis smoking cessation is effective in improving the chances of survival for patients with cancer. Smoking cessation support programs should be routinely integrated into the management of patients with cancer as this may favourably affect survival.
Explore the Quit Centre website for resources to help your patients with smoking cessation.