Half of cancer patients who enter tobacco treatment program quit smoking

PanARMENIAN.Net - In the largest smoking cessation study of cancer patients to date, researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found that comprehensive tobacco treatment can help cancer patients successfully quit and abstain from smoking, Sky Statement reports.

The prospective study, published today in JAMA Network Open, analyzed 3,245 smokers treated in MD Anderson’s Tobacco Treatment Program between 2006 and 2015. At three, six and nine-month follow-ups, smoking abstinence rates averaged 45%, 46% and 44%, respectively. Based on the program’s success, the authors advocate for full integration of comprehensive tobacco treatment into the oncological setting to ensure the best possible cancer treatment outcomes.

While the study was not designed as a randomized clinical trial and did not compare different types of smoking cessation programs, past studies have shown quitlines or other minimal interventions have abstinence rates of 20% or less. As with quitlines, abstinence rates for the Tobacco Treatment Program were self-reported and were not regularly biochemically verified.