Quitting Smoking After Lung Cancer Diagnosis Worth Doing

The researchers of the study revealed that smokers who quit smoking at or around lung cancer diagnosis have a 29% improvement in their overall survival compared with those who continue smoking. The study was published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology.

A total of 21 studies were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis, with around 15,000 patients overall, including 5315 patients with a diagnosis of nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), 5133 patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), and 4490 patients with lung cancer of both or unspecified subtypes.

Quitting smoking at or around the time of diagnosis was significantly associated with a 23% improvement in overall survival for patients with nonsmall-cell lung cancer, and a 25% improvement in overall survival for patients with small-cell lung cancer  compared with those who continued to smoke.

Hence, it was concluded that quitting smoking at or around the time of diagnosis seemed to be beneficial for patient prognosis even when evaluating endpoints other than overall survival. Therefore, Treating physicians should educate lung cancer patients about the benefits of quitting smoking even after diagnosis and provide them with the necessary smoking cessation support.